Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

I’d never seen an organ pipe cactus, and maybe you never have either, so let’s start this post with a beautiful example of one. Cool and weird and wonderful, right?

The National Monument here in southern-most Arizona is all about the wide open spaces of the Sonoran desert, so that’s what most of my photos are going to show. I want to give you a sense of this place, how huge and how full of life it is. I arrived just on the cusp of spring, so the ocotillo were blooming and a few overeager cactus plants. Neat trivia: there are 28 species of cactus that grow here.

I was surprised when I was driving west from Tucson and then south almost to Mexico by how many mountains there are here. I was expecting flat, hot desert and I was wrong about the flat part! I wasn’t wrong about the hot part, it got up to 95F (35C) for a few days, making the Alto a very hot tin can of a trailer, without hookups.

Surviving Very Hot Weather in a Tin Can

Pro tips for surviving that kind of heat:

1. Drive scenic roads with the A/C blasting
2. Drive up to Why for ice cream, with the A/C blasting
3. Drive all the way up to Ajo for a nice meal.

I think you’re getting the drift of my Organ Pipe survival strategy…

In Ajo, I loved the green chili cheeseburger at Ajo Farmer’s Market and Cafe and the Mexican food at Tacos El Tarasco on the plaza. Ajo also has the closest grocery store (Olsen’s IGA and Ace Hardware) and a good flat-tire fixing place (NAPA Auto Parts). The gas cost the same in Ajo as it did in Why (the closest gas to the campground).

Related Link: Ajo Scenic Drive

Once the clouds showed up my second week in, the temperature dropped to decent levels (low to mid-80s/26-29C) and made for some wonderful photography as well. Clouds always make for better photographs, IMHO.

When Does It Bloom?

While Saguaro cactus (those tall ones below) are all over the Sonoran desert, this is the farthest north that the Organ Pipe cactus get in the US (they really love the heat of Mexico). I didn’t get to see any of them in bloom; that happens May-July. After I read that is also the time of year when air temps can rise to 118F/48C and ground temps can hit 175F/79C, I realized I will never see these blooms. Someday, though, I might figure out how to see the desert in bloom while staying in super-cooled hotel room, without driving a zillion miles. Hotels are non-existent around here, the best you can right now do is a few RV parks with hookups.

Dark Sky No More

One sad note about Organ Pipe National Monument: Since it is so close to the Mexican border, the huge metal wall that was built in the last few years is brightly lit 24×7, destroying the dark sky. The only way I could see much of anything at night was to face north, with the trailer blocking as much of the southern artificial light as possible. I wish I’d come here years ago, when it was a true dark sky park. Seems like the wall construction could have used sodium lights or other mitigation measures to strike a compromise between border security and preserving a dark sky at night.

All the Desert Types

Did you know that the western US is home to four different types of desert? Until I spent time in the southwest, I didn’t either. The four are show in the map below.

In my travels so far, I’ve explored three of the desert types:

Mohave: Mohave Preserve, Death Valley, Anza-Borrego, and the northern end of Joshua Tree, all in CA.

Sonora: Salton Sea (CA), Saguaro National Park (AZ), and Organ Pipe Cactus NM (AZ)

Chihuahua: White Sands (NM), Oliver Lee, City of Rocks, and Rockhound State Parks (NM), Carlsbad Caverns (NM), Davis Mountains (TX), and Big Bend National Park (TX).

I’ve come to appreciate that these desert lands encompass a wide range of environments, from sky islands to sand dunes, mountains ranges to deep caverns. I feel lucky to have been able to explore each place and look forward to someday seeing the Great Basin.

---

Want to Know More?

• Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
• A bit about Organ Pipe Cactus
• Southwestern deserts

---