Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - Arizona

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument ("OP") in southern Arizona is a 517 square mile UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the only place in the U.S. where the organ pipe cactus and senita cactus are found. The southern boundary is 62 miles from the coastal port of Puerto Penasco, Mexico and the northern boundary is 128 miles from Tucson, 128 miles from Phoenix and 173 miles from Yuma. The nearest town of any size on the U.S. side is 15 miles from the northern boundary in Ajo, which had a population of 3,705 in the 2000 census. On the Mexico side, Sonoyta is just 2.4 miles from the southern boundary and had a population of 12,849 in the 2010 census. It is one of the most isolated wild places in the lower 48 states. Its east boundary and half of its north boundary is adjacent to the Cabeza Prieta NWR which is 1,344 square miles, 90% of which is wilderness area. Surrounding Cabeza Prieta, creating further buffer for OP, is the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, which is 2,969 square miles. To the east of OP is the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation which is 4,340 square miles and only had a population of 8,576 people in the 2000 census. South of the border, in Mexico, it connects to El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve which is 2,759 square miles. That is lots of mostly empty space. I've probably been there 15 times or more.

The Ajo Range is a portion of the east end of OP and is often termed a desert island or sky island, where species rich isolated mountains are surrounded by radically different lowlands. Mt. Ajo, the tallest mountain in the range, is 4,808 feet tall. The Ajo Range is a real treasure. The Ajo Mountain Drive is a 21 mile loop over a mostly dirt road. Off that drive are several great hikes, one up Arch Canyon, and the other in Estes Canyon to Bull Pasture. Another great spot in the Ajo Range is Alamo Canyon campground, 3 miles down a dirt road. A great hike starts at the campground, north along the west side of the range to Grass Canyon, up and over the spine of the Ajo Mountains through a saddle, followed by a mostly dry wash back south to Alamo Canyon, making a loop.

South of the visitors center is the dirt South Puerto Blanco Drive that follows very close to the Mexico border most of the way to Quitobaquito Springs, a little more than 12 miles. Quitobaquito is a natural spring that creates a fairly large pond. The Senita Basin is reached by a 4.3 mile dirt road north off the South Puerto Blanco Drive and leads to the only senita cacti in the U.S. Bates Well Road is a dirt road that goes 12.2 miles through the northwest corner of OP and then heads into Cabeza Prieta NWR.

I've seen some amazing things. Coues or white-tailed dear in the Ajo Mountains, coyotes, several gila monsters in Estes Canyon, Arizona desert whiptail, Clark spiny lizard, peccaries, quite a few western diamondback rattlesnakes, regal horned lizard, zebra-tailed lizard, American coot, summer tanager, gila woodpecker, white-winged doves, red-tailed hawks, saguaro cacti, including flowering and in fruit, organ pipe cactus, flowering and in fruit, chain-fruit cholla flowering, hedgehog cactus, flowering and in fruit, buckhorn cholla flowering, teddy bear cholla flowering, fishhook cactus flowering, barrel cactus, including the Sonoran barrel cactus, flowering, prickly pear cactus, flowering and in fruit, silver cholla cactus flowering, and in good rain years, thousands of Mexican gold poppies covering the ground. Palo verde trees flowering and in fruit, desert thorn, ironwood tree flowering, agave, chuparosa, creosote and ocotillo. One of my favorite places in the world.

Publicado el agosto 7, 2022 10:22 TARDE por rwcannon57 rwcannon57

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