Quitobaquito

This week we had a large group of Escapees RV Club members staying in the campground. The group of 110 was staging here before they headed down to Puerto Penasco. They were going to be here Tuesday - Thursday and we have evening programs scheduled Friday - Sunday.  So, I volunteered to present my program on Wednesday night and we wound up with a record crowd of 134. It was fun presenting a program to a large enthusiastic crowd.
Thursday was a special day for the volunteers. Escorted by M-16 carrying law enforcement, we went out to a part of the park closed to the public. The springs at Quitobaquito were made into a pond in the late 1800's and through the efforts of Natural Resources the ponds are doing well. The pond is home to over 10,000 pupfish which are on the endangered species list.
Most of the 15 mile drive is right on the border and is extremely bumpy. In some places Mexican Highway 2 is very close. The fence is the vehicle barrier just inside the border line.

 The group arriving at Quito.

The pond is unusual in the middle of the desert. It was a very welcome sight to those crossing the desert on their way to California.

We strolled around the pond and took in as much knowledge as possible from a full-time Interpreter and a biologist from Natural Resources. We are going to have 10 tours open to the public starting in a few weeks, and since I will be leading a couple of them, I need to study and research. I'll leave you this week with a couple more photos of the Quitobaquito area, the grave marker is the only non Native American buried in the area. In the photo immediately below we are looking at the point where the water comes out of the hillside.