A unique cactus, at a unique park, in a unique part of Arizona. Explore Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
Way down in Southern Arizona, along the southern border of the United States, lies a unique area of the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert in itself is unique. It’s super green! It’s even got those awesome Saguaro cacti (Check out Saguaro National Park!). The Sonoran Desert has one more unique giant cactus that is a bit lesser known, the Organ Pipe Cactus.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument protects the only area where this unique cactus grows wild in the United States, although you have probably seen it in some botanical garden somewhere. This cactus, and its other subspecies, are more common in Mexico. The park is located on the border between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora (same as Coronado National Monument). When I visited in February, they were in the midst of constructing the border wall.
It’s not a very beautiful wall. Looks like it has already rusted honestly.
Let’s flush some of that ugliness out with some pretty. First views from the park. Still a bunch of saguaros to be found here.
Baby saguaros like shade and often have nurse trees. I’ve never seen an Ocotillo used as a nurse plant before. They usually don’t grow leaves until they receive some rain. It must have been a good rainfall.
Although this park is in the middle of nowhere, people once settled out here and tried to make a living. Lots of old abandoned mines dot the landscape. Some trails will even take you to the ruined mine buildings. In 1937, the park was designated a national monument, after the area was given to the federal government by the state of Arizona. Today, 95% of the park is a designated wilderness which doesn’t allow for motor vehicle access or construction of buildings. (There are exceptions to this rule by Border Patrol.)
One of the settled areas was Quitobaquito Springs, which had a year-round water source. There was a homestead and a store, along with an enlarged pond and dam to collect water for travelers and local ranchers. An irrigation system was also constructed from the spring allowing for crops to be grown.
The first thing you see when you start the short trail to Quitobaquito.
Quitobaquito Spring is located in the normal Sonoran Desert environment, complete with scrub bushes, saguaros and short hills.
Although, the closer you get to the spring, the thicker the foliage gets.
Quitobaquito Spring, a really good sized water source in the middle of the desert.
A perfect place for a pit stop for the local wildlife.
Now it’s time to actually see some Organ Pipe Cacti along Puerto Blanco Drive in the park!
There they are! There weren’t as many in the park as I thought there were going to be.
Organ Pipe Cacti are more picky than the more common Saguaro cactus. They like rocky ground, below 3,000 ft (1,000 m) and they really do not like frost.
The park has a bunch of little mountain ranges going through it. All very scenic.
A road through a forest of cacti.
Lots and lots of cacti.
Now for the main loop drive, Ajo Mountain Drive.
Ajo Mountain Drive is a one-way drive that takes you to the Ajo Mountains foothills. Very scenic.
The cacti are a lot denser on this side of the park.
A close-up of a giant Organ Pipe Cactus.
These cacti can get extremely big.
This area of Arizona is just beautiful.
We did one trail while we were here. We were both feeling lazy and were a bit crunched for time since we still had to drive all the way back to the Grand Canyon that day. We chose the Arch Canyon Trail, which you can probably guess contains an arch and a canyon.
Well, it actually has TWO arches. And then the canyon to the left.
Still a horrible photo due to the sun, but now you can see the top tiny arch.
Baby Organ Pipe Cactus.
Close up of an Ocotillo.
Down the canyon. This trail is pretty cool because it takes you through a very vegetated area of the park, giving you a good close-up on all these cool desert plants.
Now to finish up our drive on Ajo Mountain Drive.
The Sonoran Desert is definitely not a bland, boring desert.
It is colorful and full of life!
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is in a very remote area of Arizona. The best cell service comes from across the border, which I picked up by accident. Make sure you bring a map with you of the area just in case. The best way to stay in the area is by camping. Otherwise, you have a bit of a drive to the park.
Check out my next update where I return to the amazing Valley of Fire!
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Check out more national parks and other public lands!
