Martinez Lake North of Yuma, AZ

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Martinez Lake is about 35 miles north of Yuma.  Just past the Yuma Proving Grounds.   

The Army has a large facility there.

We are definitely in the desert!  Notice the taller plants.  They known as ocotillo cactus.  However the ocotillo is not a true cactus.  These are blooming.

These are the flowers at the top. Tic actually walked out to the plants to get this picture for me.

This helicopter was at another entrance to the Proving Grounds.

This lake is created by damming of the Colorado River.  We saw a few people fishing but it did not appear they had caught much.

As this map shows, the lake is in the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.  

We decided to take the Red Cloud Mine Road and go to the Refuge Visitors Center.  This lookout platform is at the Visitors Center.

The osprey above and the screech owl  below are common in this area.

The screech is much smaller than I would have thought.

The pictures above and below show the view from the lookout platform at the Visitors Center.  Look how close some mountains are. This is the Trigo Mountains Wilderness Area which is very rugged and has little access to it.

You can also get a glimpse of the Colorado River that runs throughout the whole refuge area.

We decided we would drive out to the 4 lookout points farther into the refuge.  This is the road, hills and desert.

An example of a branch of the river from the Palo Verde Point.

Here in Yuma "The Eye in the Sky" has been pointed out to us.  It is actually a  spy blimp that surveys the Yuma area, especially the surrounding mountains for "spotters" looking for border patrol.  The "spotters" then alert illegals what routes the border patrol are taking OR which routes are clear.

From the Palo Verde Point, we could see 2 blimps on the ground.  Heat waves from the ground distorted this picture.  The blimp was a great distance away.  See below and you can see 2 white dots.  Those are both blimps.  It also shows how far away the blimps were.

There is still a 3rd blimp over the mountains that does not show in this picture. 

The 3 pictures below are from Mesquite Point.  We could actually see the Colorado and not just a finger of the river.

The 5 pictures below are from Ironwood Point.  You can see lots of iron in the rock pictures.

This area really does have its own beauty!

The pictures above and below show the route as we headed to our next view point.  Ya think we are in the desert???

Our next stop was at Smoketree Point where we could also see Monkey Island.

This is just a little sand bar in the river where 2 girls decided to take a break from riding their jet skis.

This is Monkey Island in the middle of the Colorado River.  I don't see any monkeys only people. Never learned why it was called Monkey Island.

 The picture above and the 2 below are still from Smoketree Point.  The activity on the river is much greater here where the river is wider.

Next we went to the Painted Desert Trail which is a loop, starting and stopping here.

The pictures above and below show the varying colors of the hills.  It is interesting.

You can understand why they call this Painted Desert.

It has been a fun afternoon!