Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Map of this blog's locations click this link to open the map

We had been in the Tucson area for the last 11 nights and wanted to go check out another area of Arizona we haven't visited yet before we hit the 3 RV rallies in five weeks portion of our "schedule". The destination was a National Monument right on the border with Mexico smack in the middle of Arizona. It's another of those places that appear to be in the middle of nowhere. The closest town of any real size (in the USA) is Ajo - population ~3500 people - about 30 miles to the north of the park. The place's name does not flow off the tongue at all, and even after hearing it over and over it still is a mouthful to say. Follow the bouncing ball, and repeat after me Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Practice makes perfect but I will abbreviate with OPCNM from here on out. 

We packed up the rig and hooked up the car and were just about ready to pull out of the casino when I decided to check one last thing on the outside of the rig. As I opened the door, the electric step comes out but when I step on it, I hear a loud snap and the step pivots back nearly throwing me to the pavement. Crawling under the step, I see a small coupling between the motor and the step has broken! Bummer. At first I plan on just using wire or something to hold the step up so we can head out, but then I realized that where we were headed likely would not have any parts available. Tucson has a whole plethora of RV dealers so surely we could find the part before heading out. So we unhook the car and drive 35 minutes to the dealer that sells Newmar motor homes. 

Busted Coupling

Sure enough they have the exact part so off we go back to the casino to make what I hope is a quick repair. After pulling out the tools required, I crawl underneath to make the repairs. Not more than 2 minutes later, a fellow RVer who was likely our neighbor for at least a couple days at the casino comes over to offer assistance.  I suppose if it had been a big job, I would have gladly taken him up on the offer, but I showed him what was involved and agreed I could probably handle it solo. It only took 15 minutes to install and adjust, but with all the driving to the dealer it was now lunch time. The drive to OPCNM was only about 135 miles but the campgrounds there does not take reservations so we had hoped to get in earlier to ensure we found a spot. Life happens.

We had confirmed with others that the drive across the Indian reservation on Arizona route 86 was completely fine for a big motorhome even though our Garmin RV GPSr wanted us to take the much longer route across I-10 and down route 85. There wasn't a lot to see along the drive but it was pleasant nonetheless. However midway through the drive, a passing car kicked up a small stone and it whacked the windshield pretty hard. Sure enough we had a bullseye but the two cracks were barely a quarter inch long. 

We get to the Twin Peaks campground in OPCNM and discover there is nobody on duty at the entrance. We figure out what we need to do and then I head to the dump station to fill up with fresh water and dump out black and gray tanks before setting up in a spot. Chris cruises through the campground to find a spot she believes we will fit and leaves the Jeep there to hold the spot while I come over. Twin peaks is a reasonable place but it does have a limit of 40 foot long rigs and being at 38 feet puts us close to the biggest one here. The other downside of this campground is there are no utilities at each site - not even electric. About half the spots are in the generator free area and the other half permit generators but only between 8-10 AM and 4-6 PM. We have done enough dry camping by now to realize that we need to run the generator about 2 hours twice a day to keep our batteries happy and everything running properly. It would have been nice to have a bit more flexibility with generator times but we should be able to manage. It also seemed like $16/day to stay without any utilities was a little excessive. 

The really nice feature of OPCNM is they have a large number of ranger talks and walks. They even offer a van service to take up to 11 people to some of the talks that are not close to the campgrounds. There is a big amphitheater adjacent to the campground and each night they have some sort of program you can go to. We originally only paid for 3 nights not knowing whether we would enjoy the place, but we did and extended our stay an additional 2 nights. We likely would have stayed even longer, but by then we had been dry camping for 11 nights straight and were getting a bit tired of needing to run the generator. Plus there were very few caches within 25 mile radius of our camp and we had not rationed them very well so a 5 night stay was all we could handle.

I spent an hour or so the first morning using the windshield repair kit we carry in an attempt to save the windshield before the small cracks lengthen. It looks like it did a good job, but only time will tell. There was some BLM land just outside the northern boundary of the park so we headed up there to see what it looked like. We determined  there probably were some spots we could safely get our rig into, but the better places were past a couple washes that likely had too much undulation to make it without some damage. 

The one downside of this campground is the pack rat population. Each bulletin board warned about the proliferation of these critters and how they want to make homes in your car or RV. One recommendation was to leave the hood of your vehicle up. We saw many people with lights either in their engine compartment or under their rig. We had a small LED lantern that would last all night on a charged battery so we added that to our defenses.

At Our Campsite with Hood Open

We did one of the ranger walks along the Desert View Trail. The trail is near the group camping area and is just over a mile long. The ranger was quite informative and seemed to have a magic backpack since she kept pulling out books, pictures, maps and even some props. On the way back down to the parking area, one of the participants was talking to me about our travels and walked into a teddy bear cholla cactus. These things procreate by shedding limbs when something brushes against it. The spines latch onto the animal or in this case the woman's pants. I grabbed 2 rocks to use as protection to grab the large portion of the cactus and pulled it away. There were a couple dozen spines still in here pant leg and after her husband removed them, she realized two were firmly imbedded in her leg. Those suckers were really attached and it took him several hard yanks to remove them. I need to remember to avoid them myself. 

Mountain View Along Our Hike

An Organ Pipe Cactus

Overlooking the Campgrounds

The next day we checked out the park's visitor center. They had a good video describing many aspects of the park. In fact this place has a real physical geocache at the visitor center. This isn't typical, but it was placed by the park's naturalist as opposed to some arbitrary geocacher. To find the container, one first needs to get info from the video which then is used to find several other locations nearby, until you finally have the coordinates for the final. It was an interesting way to get geocachers to stop by and experience the visitor's center. 

If you only have time to do one day in the park, then the Ajo Mountain Drive is our recommendation. It is a 21 mile loop through the Ajo mountains. There are many pullouts to stop for pictures, a picnic or even a hike. We stopped many times along the way. There were some wildflowers just starting to bloom - probably caused by the 3 inches of rain they had gotten a few days before we arrived. The stop at Arch Canyon was really neat. We have seen quite a few arches in nature but this one was special because there was a double arch. We did do a hike back to the arch, but the trail does not get you up to the level of the arch, or if it does, we were unwilling to go up the steep and rocky section.

View At Arch Canyon with Arches 1/3 From Right Edge

Close Up of Double Arch

A "Crested" Organ Pipe Cactus

Chris Adds a Couple Extra Arms to Cactus

Supposedly the hike at Estes Canyon is also quite nice but we were running out of time. Not so much running out of daylight, but with our restrictive generator hours, we needed to get back to get things running. This might be the impetus for me to pull out the manual and learn how to setup the auto-generator start. 

Another View Along Ajo Mountain Drive

Mexican Poppies

We hadn't done a long hike in quite some time and there were at least some hikes located in the park that sounded interesting. There was one that started right out of the campgrounds to a couple old abandoned mines. If we just go to the Victoria Mine and back, it will be about a 4.4 mile hike. Continuing on to the Lost Cabin Mine will end up being just over 8 miles. We bring along sandwiches and play it by ear. The only unnerving thing about this hike, and frankly the whole area within OPCNM, were all the signs warning about illegal activities and smuggling that might occur here. At no point did we see anyone suspicious, but the signs did work on keeping us more vigilant.

Example of Caution Sign Along Every Hike

Possible Signs of Illegals? Stocking Caps, Gloves and Socks

Actual Stairs Heading Up from a Wash

We checked out the old building at the Victoria Mine and at least peered into the mine shafts. We were feeling pretty good so we continued on the the Lost Cabin Mine. We got to the second Mine and did a bit of exploration. Then we ate our sandwiches before returning to the campground. We didn't see any people until we got back to the Victoria Mine which leads us to believe most people don't do the full 8 mile hike. 

Old Mine Building

Want a Bath?

Covered Up Mine Shaft

This Mine Building in Worse Shape

One of the ranger talks we wanted to attend was at an old ranch right beside the fence along the Mexico border. We decided to try to fit in another hike before attending the talk. This one was out to another old copper mine named the Milton Mine. The drive to this one is along a couple of reasonably good dirt roads. South Puerto Blanco Drive basically follows the US/Mexico border. Some of the border has a tall fence while other portions only have large metal poles intended to prevent vehicles but definitely not pedestrians. There was a large border patrol presence and we saw many towers with various surveillance equipment. Then we head north up Senita Basin Road for a couple more miles until we get to the trailhead. The walk itself was not all that challenging only needing to cross a few washes along the way. There isn't much of the old mine left but we didn't have enough time to continue onto Baker Mine - maybe next time. 

Border Fence Goes Up and Over

No Border Fence - Just Vehicle Prevention

Copper Remnants at Mine

Another "Crested" Organ Pipe Cactus

Senita Cactus Only Found in USA in This Area of Park

We found a nice lunch spot just a bit further up Senita Basin Road where there is a major trailhead for some other hikes in the park. Next we head to Gachado Line Camp where one old Ranch building is standing in reasonably good shape about 100 feet from the border fence. There were about 15 people here for the International Line Ranger Talk. We were given a little history about the building and the ranch that was here. When this land was made into a National Monument, the pre-existing ranch was permitted to continue on the government land but eventually the family gave up the ranch. 

Old Fencing at the Ranch

The border fence is definitely tall and would be quite difficult to scale but we did see some patched sections where the fence had been cut. Since the fence only extends a few miles beyond the town in Mexico, it would seem to me that just walking around the fence would be much easier. The talk was informative and worth the time to attend.

Checking Out the Border Fence

Peering Through into Mexico

Just a couple miles further down the road along the border was the Dos Lomitas Ranch. The few of us that had driven ourselves to the talk all drove down to this ranch and walked around checking the place and building out. 

Well Preserved Building at Dos Lomitas Ranch

Old Windmill and Fence Needs TLC

Mexican Home

Where the Fence Begins/Ends

We happened to be here during the time of a new moon, so it was definitely dark here, not as dark as we had in Rodeo New Mexico but still pretty good for night sky photography. One night the ranger talk was a sky party of sorts. There were a couple telescopes to allow the crowd to check out the Orion Nebula. I setup on two nights to see if I could get some good sky shots.

Saguaro Points to North Star