Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

A future volunteer spot for us, I’m sure. We stopped by for a visit on our way from Yuma to Tucson. The supervisor we worked with when we were at Petrified Forest National Park is now at ORPI (Organ Pipe) so we wanted to check out the park and say “hello”. We arrived on Feb 19^th to a sunny 80 degree day. The ranger program that night was a “star party” checking out the night sky. The next day dawned clear but by mid-morning clouds had built up, sprinkles prevailed and the temperature had fallen. The evening programs for the remaining three nights of our visit were held at the visitor center instead of the amphitheater at the campground where they usually occur.

Weather aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this park and highly recommend it to anyone traveling between Yuma and Tucson. I was a bit nervous about going to it, because the proximity to the border and its problems with “illegals” and worse, drug smugglers. The presents of the Border Patrol is very evident around there. We were stopped at several check stations while we were driving around, (one even on Interstate 8) but they were nothing more than a small traffic hindrance to us, but much more than that to the “bad guys”.

The Organ Pipe and other cactus types plus all the other flora and fauna in the park make it one of the most beautiful deserts in the United States. There are four deserts that come into the United States, the Sonoran Desert is the most beautiful. It is the only place in the US that several types of cactus can be found, Organ Pipe being one of them. The campground at the national monument, even without hook-ups, is one of the finest and most scenic ones in the park system. If you find yourself in southern Arizona during sometime other than the summer, by all means stop by for a visit.

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