Quartzsite in December
 

I'm retired. I don't have a vehicle. I'm thinking about buying a van for camping. To inform this decision, I'd like to see the winter event at Quartzsite.

Problem: how to get there, and how to get food once I'm there.

I think I could hitchhike from the nearest Amtrak or Greyhound station. But I understand water and grocery may need to be hauled in. Also my tent has limited storage capacity, and may not be protected from thieving ... animals.

So ... suggestions?

Welcome to Fodors. If you are thinking of buying a van anyway -- wouldn't that solve everything??

Yes, it would. But you have the logic backwards. I won't buy if events like Quartzsite are not appealing. I'm not going to buy in order to find out whether I should have bought.

OK -- guess I'm not following. It sounds like you want to go to a winter RV show in Quartzite but aren't sure you want to buy an RV? Why Quartzite specifically? There are many other places you can see a boatload of campers and vans without traveling to a remote place like Quartzite which is close to 90 miles from Yuma Amtrak. Quartzite isn't really a place one can visit without their own wheels. It draws a huge crowd.

Why buy a van to stay in Quartzsite if you do not plan to travel from Spring to Autumn? The area is desolate and too hot except in the winter time.

I think we're getting away from my original question. It seems pretty self-explanatory.

But if you want to give me some links to some comparable events that would be closer to an Amtrak or Greyhound station, that could be helpful.

Thanks.

We were in Quartzite in March. It is one Main Street with the rock shops and restaurants. Behind the shops are huge gravel lots and people did camp there.
Public transportation and or hitchhiking with your tent, supplies and food could be problematic. I would suggest renting the type of camping van you are considering buying and try it out.

Your original question isn't easily answered. Hitchiking in the desert is never a good idea. Quartzite is in the middle of nowhere. Going on social media and looking for some sort of ride share might work. cgenster has the best idea -- rent a van from some Arizona or SoCal city and drive yourself.

There is no need to haul in supplies -- Quartzite has markets and grocery stores.

Thanks for the suggestion. Can you recommend any particular forum or social media page or group that would be a good place to look?

Renting a van for what could be two months of camping ... It might be cheaper to just build a house there.

Here’s a site for rentals.
https://rvshare.com/rv-rental?locati...0Camping%20Van

If the prices are too high, then I guess get a good heavy duty backpack for your tent and belongings and hopefully you can hitchhike safely to Quartzsite from the nearest bus or train station.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

It seems from post #3 that camping in general isn't your goal, just attending "events" where you'll camp. Is that correct? If it isn't correct & you imagine yourself doing non-event camping, why not just buy a van. Or, even if events are the main goal, you'll certainly have other uses for a vehicle. If you buy an inexpensive van & find the bother of keeping it isn't worth it to you, you can always resell. Whatever it costs you in the end would certainly be less than renting one for 2 months. It might be the start of any number & kinds of adventures, beginning with the Quartzsite event, whether you end up liking it or not.

Summary
 

For some reason, I didn't think there were any grocery stores in Quartzsite. A simple check with Google Maps confirms you're right - there are. Sorry - I don't know why I didn't think of checking that.

I worked up some materials on other parts of my question, but it seems I'm not allowed to post links here yet. So I'll post that reply in a blog. It may be searchable under its title: Backpacking to Quartzsite.

I'm still definitely interested in suggestions for ways to reach RVers or other Quartzsite attendees who might give a backpacker a ride. The message here seems to be that this is pretty alien for RVers, and that's OK. I may have to search in a backpacker or ridesharing site.

Thanks again for the suggestions.