March 13.....one of the more pleasant surprises of this entire trip was our tour of the Organ Pipe. It was pretty far off of our course, and I probably would have skipped this trip, except that we have the time, and the weather east of us makes me in not such a big hurry to leave Arizona. What better way to spend time going to a place that is way out of the way that we would probably never come to in the future.
What a beautiful area it is, and Pam and I Jeeped a few miles south, to the visitors center, and tried to figure out what was what. They have a great campground, that handles big rigs, but we were enjoying the Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ) boondocking experience at the BLM Gunsite campground near Why, AZ. We decided to do a 21 mile self guided tour through the park, and even had time to hike about a mile out Arch Canyon Trail. Some rock arch formations (like in Arches National Park) out in the mountains of the park were an added bonus. We took tons of pictures, so we will let them do the talking. After we we done with the ride, we headed south five more miles to the Mexican border in Lukeville, which was very small, and a disappointment. ( no place to get a margarita )
 |
| Going thru Border Patrol check point |
 |
| Stopped to read a marker and liked the scenery |
 |
| Ocotillo (oh-koh-Tee-yo) blooming in the foreground and a "young" saguaro - maybe only 40-50 yrs old |
 |
| Kinda like being in a Western movie with all of the cactus |
 |
| On the right side of the picture is an organ pipe cactus |
 |
| Crazy cactus!!! |
 |
| This is the inside of a cactus |
 |
| Organ pipe cactus with a cristate in the middle |
 |
| Close up of the cristate - it is considered an anomaly that is found on some organ pipe and saguaro cacti |
 |
| The jeep loves when we go on these dirt roads! |
 |
| Cactus skeleton! |
 |
| Many of the saguaro cacti have many of these holes - birds live in them! |
 |
| Mike spotted a blue flag a 30 or so yards off the road, so of course he had to check it out! It is a barrel of water (agua) for people who might be wandering thru the desert??? It's for the aliens crossing the border! |
 |
| Hardy little flowers on the desert floor |
 |
| This saguaro had died, lost its skin and the "skeleton" is peeling back |
 |
| Dying saguaro |
 |
| And the desert starts to bloom! |
 |
| Just wanted to show you how large these organ pipe cacti can get! |
 |
| A saguaro with cristate |
 |
| Just cruising down the road and into the mountains |
 |
| This is the biggest organ pipe cactus in the park |
 |
| And it has pretty cristate |
 |
| Another view of the big one! |
 |
| Two largest arches in the park - the one is quite small |
 |
| Another view of the arch |
 |
| Off to hike on arch canyon trail |
 |
| Even the sign couldn't stand up! |
 |
| Coming down the trail |
 |
| Interesting formation on this saguaro! |
 |
| Mike posing with his friends the Teddy Bear cactus! |
 |
| At the Border Patrol by the Mexican border |
 |
| It is beautiful country out here in Arizona |
Driving down to Organ Pipe
No comments:
Post a Comment