Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (by Sunshine)

TING. TING. TING. TING. I’m woken by a loud ringing sound. It is 5:15 am and a Gila

Many cactus here are older than
the trees in Wisconsin

Woodpecker is drumming its beak on the metal roof of the ramada in our campsite. I decide to get out of bed and scare the bird away hoping Walden will sleep longer. I’m actually thankful for the early wake up because it means I get a few extra minutes for my morning routine. Almost every day I get up before the boys, dress quickly, and enjoy a bit of solitude. I do yoga while the sun comes up over the mountains, shines through the pines, or lights the area where we are staying. Some days I have time to take a short walk, read, or journal as well. Though brief, these moments alone are precious and set the tone for my day. It is quiet and I’m not being a mom or wife. I’m relaxed and can appreciate every detail that comes into my senses. On this morning, I watch Gambel’s Quail run through our campsite, listen to the chattering of birds, and feel the warmth of the first rays of sun as they reach over the mountain in front of me. When the sun is coming up (or going down) and there is something on the horizon for reference the sun appears to move so quickly. I think about how a day can seem so long even while the sun moves so fast. Then I think about how a day can seem so long yet months and years can go by so fast. Life seems too short for all the things I want to fit it. I get overwhelmed with thoughts like these so I focus on the time I have now. Right now. While I’m alone in enjoying the sounds of the morning I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for this experience I’m having. This yoga. This day. This journey with my family. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.

Ajo Mountains

Organ Pipe is in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. In addition to being a National Monument it is also an International Biosphere Reserve. It contains plants and animals unique to this region of the world and can be used as a comparison of a healthy bioregion to similar areas impacted by humans. I like this idea because it is a crazy, wild, and remote place that might suffer from misuse or neglect without protection. Its southern border is Mexico and it is far from any major US city. There is a highway that runs through it from north to south. Even though the park is in a remote location there is a steady stream of traffic moving from Mexico to the US; presumably people heading to Phoenix to visit family or get supplies. There are signs everywhere warning visitors they may encounter smuggling and illegal immigration and should dial 911 if they witness any suspicious individuals. Border patrol vehicles are seen frequently and park rangers drive the road through the campground regularly. Along one trail, we saw a flag on a high pole identifying the location of a water container. Presumably it was for people who crossed the border, hiked through the desert, and couldn’t make it to their destination. The visitor center was named after a young park ranger who was shot while on duty by members of a Mexican drug cartel. Even with all this we never felt worried or unsafe. It just made the visit all the more memorable.

The monument is named for the organ pipe cactus, a cactus with several tall vertical 

You can hear wind moving through the organ pipe arms

columns that reach into the air. They are common in Mexico, but are rare in the United States, since they cannot withstand frost. The monument has a large, healthy population of organ pipe cacti, which share the landscape with “forests” of saguaro cactus, cholla cactus, ocotillo, yucca, and many other hardy desert plants and animals. One quote from an interpretive panel was really memorable, stated by a visiting Saudi Arabian Prince, “This is not a desert… this is a garden.” The Sonoran Desert is the most botanically diverse desert in North America. We saw more wildlife in the few days at Organ Pipe than we’ve seen in most other places!

One of Jim's amazing photos!

The campground in Organ Pipe has 208 sites. The bathrooms have flush toilets and some have solar showers. Compared to other national monuments we’ve visited this is HUGE. There were fewer than 10 people there while we visited. The busy season runs from January through March. The rest of the year the park is nearly deserted. We found one of the few sites that had a roof over the picnic table and a giant saguaro cactus. This is considered the “first summer” season for the desert, the driest time as plants wait for the monsoon rains of “second summer.” However, the temperatures were quite comfortable, with 80s during the day and cooling to 50s at night. Watching the stars at night was breathtaking; with a wide open sky, little light pollution, and a new moon, the number of stars visible was extraordinary.

We drove the Ajo Mountain loop and searched for cactus cristates – growth anomalies

Organ pipe cristate

that cause them to develop flattened fanned areas. We did the most strenuous hike we’ve ever done with Walden in the backpack trying to reach a natural arch on the side of a mountain. It was literally a climb on all fours over slippery rocks for several sections! Unfortunately, when we reached the top of the summit, we didn’t see an arch and the trail marked by cairns had disappeared. All that crazy climbing and no arch for a reward. HUMPF! We did feel a little better the next day when the visitor center manager told us he’d been on the hike twice and never made it himself.

While walking around the oldest organ pipe cactus in the park, I came within a foot of a rattlesnake. Walden was only a few steps behind me and my heart was pounding in my chest… not just because we’d been so close to the snake, but also because I realized I hadn’t been concerned about where I was stepping. After that, I always walked in front of Walden and my eyes constantly scanned the ground. This was beneficial because I spotted a Gila Monster on our hike to the arch, which Walden later informed a ranger “it isn’t really a monster, it is a lizard.”

Cholla glowing as the sun sets

That evening we watched the sun going down from the top of a hill next to the campground. As the sun shone through the spines of the cholla cactus, they glowed and looked like soft fur. On our way back to the Burro we saw jackrabbits and a kit fox (very cool!) both with oversized long ears for keeping them cool.

On our last day, we took a real desert hike to Victoria Mine, an old gold mining site. 

Newborn ground squirrel

Along the way, we found a newborn ground squirrel that didn’t even have its eyes open yet. It was stumbling along the trail in the hot sun, obviously separated from its mother. We gave it some water and moved it off the trail into the shade of a mesquite bush. I hoped its mother would find it, but deep down knew the circle of life would likely not play out in its favor (which in our attempt to explain to Walden sounded like, “Well, the baby might be food for a snake or fox.”)

What we noticed about the desert was that small variations in color were very noticeable. When everything is brown or beige a bit of green on a plant or white in a rock jumps out at you. The pink flowers of the cholla cactus seem out of place. The green bark and branches of the palo verde tree seem fluorescent. The adaptations the plants and animals have to survive in this harsh environment are impressive and could teach humans a lot.

Walden earned another Junior Ranger badge at Organ Pipe. He’s always been very observant and does well with nature bingo. These programs are teaching him a lot and they are fun for us to do as a family. One new thing we discovered at Organ Pipe was that there was also a booklet with activities for “not-so-junior” rangers! So Mommy and Daddy were sworn in as Desert Rangers (complete with patches) at the same time as Walden being a Junior Ranger.

On our way to CA

We drove north out of Organ Pipe to get to Interstate 8 which would take us to San Diego. Most of the 5.5 hour drive was through a desolate landscape. The eye opening thing was the diversity of land uses we encountered. In Ajo, we passed the largest most beautifully colored pile of copper mine tailings we’ve ever seen. Then there was the largest dairy farm we’ve ever seen. Even more impressive than the spread of barns for the cows were the miles and miles of fields growing hay and grains to feed the cows. The fields were lined by irrigation ditches and rows of homes for the staff. After we passed miles of solar arrays, we agreed this was a more practical use of this sunny landscape. When we passed the southern edge of Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area in California it seemed as if the miles of massive sand dunes might swallow the road. Water in the Coachella we doing? Soon after, we drove through miles of enormous wind turbines which again seemed like a great use of this arid landscape. This was definitely one of the most diverse and unusual days of driving we’ve encountered. Canal, an irrigation ditch dug from the Colorado River to Riverside County in California, glistened as it ran through the dunes. The contrast between the sand and water gave us an eerie feeling of awe and wonder. We marveled at the ingenuity while wondering what are