Images from Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in south central Arizona is an absolute gem, and worthy of much more exploration. A declared UNESCO biosphere reserve, the park protects over 500 square miles of Sonoran Desert, including the somewhat rare senita and organ pipe cacti. The Ajo Mountain and Puerto Blanco drives are popular (and easy) ways to fully enjoy the beauty of this desert environment. Other scenic drives are available to high-clearance vehicles and mountain bikes (another fun way to see the park). Many hiking trails will get you out into desert itself, the most popular (with me) being Arch Canyon, Bull Pasture, Estes Canyon, Lost Cabin, and Red Tanks Tinaja — but precautions must be taken for high temperatures and desert critters. Another great hike along an old wash will take you to a hillside populated with hundreds of petroglyphs (and past an old, deserted homestead), but you will need to do a little research (or ask a ranger) because this one is not advertised (likely because of the petroglyphs). A fall or winter visit here will allow you to take in everything that this monument has to offer.

Beauty of the Sonoran Desert
Just love the Santa Rosa Mountains
Evidence of the cactus wren, gilded flicker, or Gila woodpecker
Typical saguaro cactus
The aptly-named organ pipe cactus
Along the Double Arch Trail
The Double Arch
That’s the dangerous jumping cholla cactus in the foreground (which I know from experience)
View from the lower of the two arches
An abandoned homestead in the desert
An out building
How you harness water in the desert
Air conditioning
Along the hike to the petroglyphs
If you weren’t looking for them, you might just walk by them
Hundreds of petroglyphs on this hill
Some of these petroglyphs are thousands of years old (perhaps made by the Hohokam)
Kissing deer
Lots of deer
Aliens? But likely Native dancers
Pregnant snake symbolic of rebirth
Perhaps the Sun God mask (most powerful god among some Native Tribes)
Symbolic of the four seasons
The sun
Back down the trail
Evidence of the distant past
Quitobaquito Spring on the US-Mexico border
A javelina that surprised me along the trail
Sunrise in the desert can be a spiritual experience
And so are sunsets