There are a couple very memorable boondocking locations that we will keep revisiting. They’re memorable not only for the very positive experience but also for the fact that they were one of our early discoveries when we ventured out in search of boondocking with the rig. We were stoked that such peacefulness and great scenery can be found if you do some leg work and have a rig that’ll take you there.

Kofa Queen Canyon Road is one such spot. In 2018 we drove to the end of the trail, 5 miles, and had the last campable spot. It was very nice to be off the trail and up against the mountains. In 2019 we revisited the area in the fall, hoping that “our” spot would be empty; alas, it was already occupied. Here we are in our old Lance camper.

February 2023, we return again to find our spot occupied but still had a great time without driving 5 miles back to the mountain. Fortunately, there are a handful other sites leading up to the primo site for us to land on. There are also a dozen or so pull offs within the first mile. Here we are for the first time in the new rig, Maximus.

This area is full of beautiful cholla and ocotillo making it a more scenic desert landscape than much of the desert around it and around Quartzsite, AZ.

The deets:

  • GPS: 33.385246 , -114.105087 (Google maps link) there are many pull outs along the way too!
  • Easy to locate: Yes. Google maps will get you there
  • Public Land: Yes
  • Cell: Verizon 3 bar, Google fi 2-3 bars, T-mobile 3 bars, AT&T 3 bars
  • Crowded: not at all. Most campers stay off off Palm Canyon road and there’ll only be a handful back on Kofa Queen Canyon
  • Clean: very clean
  • Would we stay here again: Yes

The drive is gravel and very easy along Palm Canyon Road. You can travel this road all the way back to the trail and there are numerous sites all along the road.

Palm Canyon and Kofa Queen Canyon intersection

Kofa Queen Road is a more rugged, 4WD or high clearance recommended road. Our rig, even towing the jeep, never bottomed out through the washes. We had no problem keeping Jeep hitched all the way in which surprised me. One other camper (the one in my spot) had a smaller truck and towed a travel trailer all the way in.

Satellite view of our primo camp location from I-10 and Hwy-95
Mr. Cooper has approved this road; there are definitely some big deep dips through washes so watching clearance is needed but otherwise it’s solid rock and mostly even driving.

Here’s the primo location back against the mountains as viewed from Palm Canyon Road. Again any of the pull offs once you’re in the refuge are great. There’s some daytime traffic with quads or jeeps exploring Kofa Queen road. Once nightfall descends you have it all to yourself.

View from Palm Canyon road back towards camp…a near perfect boondocking location for just hanging out

Touring around Kofa Wildlife Refuge

In 2019, we had the jeep with us and too a day trip through the refuge.

So stunning, I didn’t close my door!

The 2019 trip we not only had time but we have the Jeep, making it fun to get out and do more exploring.

We spent the next day driving out to King Road, finding the horse tank water area and attempted to get to a mine, but the museum was locked up. Found cholla at over 6′ tall, frogs (YES, FROGS!) and just pretty, pristine desert to romp around in.

Watch the video (disclaimer: this is an old video from 2019. Not quite the same technical quality as our newer content such as our 2022 Highlights Video which I’ll link at the end of this post!)

Our jeep exploration and camp area in Kofa Wildlife Refuge near Quartzsite, AZ

More Recent Travel

Since our initial visit to Kofa Queen we’ve traveled through both the Quartzite, AZ area and Kofa Wildlife several times and every visit we find our selves refreshed and enjoying the desert environment.

2022 Highlights Video

The new rig Maximus has now been our travel beast for 2 years. 2022 was full of adventure and misadventures. If you haven’t seen how we roll, take a few minutes and join our 2022 journey.