Advice needed on 4 Corners this coming winter

HI Ian, like everyone has said, the four corners will be way to cold.Try Quartzsite and the Yuma area, even Parker and Lake Havasu. We have been in Quartzsite for the lat 10 years. There are plenty of parks or boondocking. Lots to see and do in this area without freezing. From Quartzsite, Yuma is about 80 miles, Lake Havasu is 80 miles(think London Bridge) Palm Springs and Indio Calif are about 130 miles, Laughlin Nv, casinos along the Colorado river, 2 hours and 15 minutes.January in Q has lots of rock and gem vendors and junk vendors. Not to be missed. Tucson has the rock vendors in February(its 253 miles east of Q. But your prices are lower in Q. In Brenda AZ, about 23 miles east of Q there are a few RV parks with pools(heated) I don't think there is an rv park in Q with a pool. Near Q, you can go prospecting for gold with a metal detector or a drywasher . you just may find some. We do. Got about an ounce last winter. If you need more info, just ask. We have really enjoyed traveling around from the Q area these past few years. We park our rv on a private lot in a development outside Q. Loads of places to ride an atv and great photos of sunsets for your memories.
We are fairly close to you, we are in Mulmur Ontario, just north of Orangeville. Have fun planning. Dona

I would not advise staying in the Four Corners area in winter. It's very cold and windy. Also, Four Corners itself is ugly.

You need to look up elevations of some Southwestern areas and keep yourselves no higher than 3500'.

For Arizona/Utah don't plan to winter any higher by looking on a map - than the Phoenix area. You said you're not ready for Quartzsite. Give it a try you might like it for a short time. There are plenty of nearby places to move near Quartzsite. Yuma is the warmest in the state and along the Colorado River up to Havasu City is fairly nice. Then there's the Tucson/Phoenix/Apache Junction areas. Flagstaff is too high as is Prescott/Payson/Show Low.

You can plan to hit the Utah area on your way home in spring although even March and April will still be cold. Good luck finding your place!

We live in Colorado and have spent time during the past two winters camping in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Although the lower-elevation parts of Colorado can have 50 degree daytime temps in January, it can also have -25 to -30 degree weather in January (in Denver, we refer to the latter as "Stock Show weather" because the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in mid-January often brings below zero temps). So, I would not recommend staying long in Colorado between November and April unless you are a skier and have an RV designed for Canadian winter camping.

Southern Utah and northern Arizona and New Mexico are also at higher altitudes. For example, Flagstaff, AZ, and Santa Fe, NM, are at 7,000 feet above sea level, or nearly 2,000 feet higher than Denver. So, expect cold weather and snow during winter in that region as well.

Texas (even along the Gulf), Oklahoma, and Arkansas get cloudy, windy, and rainy during winter, with occasional ice storms but not much snow. Only the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is really suitable for long-term snowbirds (or "winter Texans" as they call them there).

That leaves southern NM and AZ as the only dependably mild snowbird destinations in the "Four Corners" states and surrounding region. And, as others have said, it can still get cold in those southern areas. So, for hiking, biking, touring, sightseeing, and camping, you are going to be competing with all the other snowbirds generally along the I-10 corridor from Las Cruces, NM, to Tucson, Casa Grande, Phoenix, Quartzite, and Yuma, AZ.

My suggestion would be to pick one area for November (that's the month the whooping cranes return to Bosque del Apache in NM, if you happen to be a wildlife photographer), another for December (the old town of Mesilla near Las Cruces is completely lit with luminarias at Christmas), another for January (all the big classic car auctions are in the Scottsdale-Phoenix area in January), and another for February (the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, the world's largest, is held the first two weeks of February). That way you can explore what each area has to offer (except Quartzite!) and pick just one or two areas to return to the following winter.

BTW, in March we met a couple from Saskatchewan who had spent that last 8 winters in the same RV park in Bensen, AZ. So, you wouldn't be the only Canadians wintering in that region!

unless you are in a witness protection program why go south and freeze anyway. come on over to the Tucson area.

Do the higher elevation stuff before you do the lower elevation stuff. The immediate four corners area is at around 5,200 feet, so winter does have a habit of intruding on plans from time to time.
:)
Lynn

http://weather.sg.msn.com/monthly_averages.aspx?&wealocations=wc%3a1123195&q=Four+Corners%2c+USA&setunit=C

Too cold for me BRRRR

I can tell you that most of Utah & Colorado can be very cold and snowy. I would imagine a lot of campgrounds close during the winter. Desert doesn't mean warm in the winter. It is beautiful that time of year if you hit good weather. If you go to southern NM and AZ it will be much warmer. Otherwise, winter.