Tacna Off The Beaten Path

Telegraph Pass elevation is only 767 ft (233 m). Not high altitude but they had to cut a lot of beautiful rocks to build the freeway. Hmm... what to do, thanks it I could travel fast, safe and admire beautiful views :-).

Driving I-8 east of Tacna towards Tucson the landscape is quite monotous, just a flat, desert valley area with some not very high moutains on both sides.

On the right you pass Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Base, a little more distant on the left Yuma Proving Ground - restricted areas, closed to public by U.S. military!

I didn't hear any hypersonic airplanes, I didn't see any tanks, I didn't meet any U.S. Army Rangers there :-(((. Are they invisible or what?

Looking northwards from Tacna at a distance approx. 10-15 miles (16-24 km) you can see Castle Dome Mountains.

Southern part of the mountains is reserved for Yuma Proving Ground (U.S. Army) = restricted area, closed to public.

Northern part with the highest summit: Castle Dome Peak (3788' = 1155 m) is available (by highway 95 from Yuma) and there is Kofa National Wildlife Refuge there.

Driving I-8 and then I-10 east of Tecna towards Tucson I could see first wild cactuses on both sides - I was very fascinating about them, looking for the biggest one: more to east ---> bigger cactuses hehe.
Hmm... I even didn't suspect how many of cactuses and how big I would be lucky to see that day later in Saguro National Park.

I was driving around Tacna and I stopped in a few places always looking for shadowed place - not so easy hehe. What for? Just to see more. Driving seems much better than walking around there, especially in hot midday - no pedastrians there!

You can take exit 42 on I-8 to Avenue 40E north and drive approx. 5 miles north to restricted (closed to public) area reserved by U.S. military (Yuma Proving Ground). What for? Just to see the typical landscape of Southern Arizona. Boring or interesting? What do you think?

This is not San Diego, California. There are no palm trees in Tacna except single trees and that one group on my picture. People seem to save water and don't want to waste it for palm trees - just my opinion. Am I wrong?

Driving I-8 eastwards from Yuma towards Tucson when you pass Gila Mountains (Telegraph Pass) you enter very vast and plain valley called Mohawk Valley. Tacna is located just in the center of the valley - a little boring landscape, am I wrong?