Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

October 11, 5,817 miles and 85 days into the trip.
Ajo Heights RV Park, Ajo, AZ

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Organ Pipe Cactus is very susceptible to freezing temperatures and only grows in Mexico and this very small southern section of Arizona. In fact it only grows on the south facing slopes of the National Monument (NM). There are 25 other cactus species living in the NM, many of which we saw in Joshua Tree NP. The NM butts up against the Mexican boarder. The main road through the monument is also the main road to get from Phoenix to Mexico and the Gulf of California. While we were in the monument we kept seeing RV’s and cars with boats and ski jets flying by. There were only a very few who stopped to view the sights. We also saw many Border Patrol buses, SUV’s, ATV’s and trucks. On the way out of the NM we got stopped and checked for illegal aliens. We originally planned to spend a night dry camping in the NM, but several campers told us not to leave the motorhome unattended because of the large number of illegal’s passing through the campground. So we only spent time at the visitors center and toured its nature trail.

The Ajo Heights RV Park had its own nature trail which wound through a vary complete cactus display. Our motorhome is on the campsite and is visable above Mom.

Each site at the RV Park had it's utilities in a small cactus garden. Our site is #20 but its utilities are in the hot sun. Mom rather sit in the shade of the motorhome. That’s a storage lot behind us. But the whole park is on sand or cinders.

Organ Pipe Cactus The two tall cactus behind me are Saguaro Cactus.

Organ Pipe Cactus growing on the south slope.

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