Finally am caught up posting things I could not post when my laptop battery was dead. Yea! It really takes me a lot of time to post. First, I have to download photos from my camera, then I have to sort them by the place I am posting about. And finally, I have to go through 50-70 photos for each location, picking out the ones that are best quality and tell the story of the place best. So here goes for one of the most unique national parks in the country.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Park is unique because this 330,688 acres national park is the only place in the U.S. where these specific cacti grow wild. The park includes this very narrow sliver of land in Southern Arizona, directly along the Mexican border.
The national park is a bit out of the way, so it does not get anywhere near as many visitors as other national parks. It was also closed for many years because a ranger was killed in 2002 while chasing members of a drug cartel who had illegally entered the country after being chased by Mexican police after committing several murders in Mexico. The park was closed in 2003 and did not reopen until 2014.
Is it safe to visit here? The amount of border security has been vastly increased in this area, and the road past the park to the border town of Sonoyta is very popular on weekends, as U.S. visitors head through this Mexico crossing on their way to beaches on the Gulf of California. Besides being crawling with white border patrol trucks, the desert in and around the national park has a lot of electronic monitors and helicopter patrols.
This is the second time I have been here camping in this lovely place, and it would be one of my favorites if only it had electric hookups. (More about that later.) I have never seen anyone who looks as if they are traversing through as illegals, and I really feel very safe here.
However, since we are close to the border, there are a couple of inspection points on the way, thought this one was not being operated while I was there.
Love these long straight roads with little traffic!
A welcome and another warning sign.
The only problem with this campground is that it has no electric or water hookups. You are allowed to use generators in the upper half of the campground, but not in the lower part, however, generator hours are strictly limited most of the year to 8-11 am and from 3-6 pm. The bad thing about this is when it gets hot, staying in an RV is like sitting in a tin can in the sun. And there is virtually NO shade here!
The rock covers the sewage dump, and the green post contains non-drinkable water intended to flush spills or to flush out your black or sewage tanks, assuming you have a flush mechanism, which I do. Periodic rinsing my sewage tank keeps solids and paper from building up.
By the way, one interesting fact is that in most very dry desert areas, honey bees are often swarming around both of the water hoses, drinking from spills and even climbing up into the hoses to get the last drop. They never seem to be interested in attacking even people who are very close to them because they are so intent on getting a drink.
The water in this non-drinkable hose is really fairly clean, but it is considered non-potable because it is too close to the sewage facility. I did not need to use the hose, but I ran a little water to fill up the sidewalk cracks for the bees to drink from!
My campsite. One of the reasons I like this campground is that sites are very large and nicely separated from one another by Palo Verde trees, mesquite shrubs, and various cacti.
The front of my site. On the right is an ocotillo, and past it is a large organ pipe cactus. The ocotilla will have large bright red blooms at the end of every branch in about 2 weeks.
Here is what an empty site looks like. I like that all the sites in this campground and the roadways are paved. This really helps to keep the desert dust down! People are careful of the cactus in their sites, though I did notice a couple that had apparently been backed into a long time ago.
Another view of the campground.
Love the walking path that circles the huge campground!
My favorite desert birds--Gambel's Quail. These little guys run in family groups, keeping together by constant cheeping. If one gets left behind, it panics and runs even faster to find his group! I used to have a lot of trouble taking photos of these birds that were always running, but I have discovered that a small handful of bird seed slows them down!
Both of these birds are males because they have brighter coloring and more prominent feather topknots.
This is a female with less bright coloring and a thinner topknot.
Some assorted cactus. Too tired tonight, but I will identify as many as I can tomorrow. This is a form of cholla.
A young organ pipe cactus. It was about 4 feet high and is probably 30+ years old. The really big ones can grow to 20 feet high and live 150 years!
Another, slightly different cholla.
Need to look this one up.
And another type of cholla.
