Organ Pipe National Monument

Leaving the get together in Phoenix I made my way south to Organ Pipe National Monument with Lyn and Karen. It is so much fun using the Senior Pass.  Cost to stay in the campground is $6 per night.  Bathroom s and solar showers are available with a dump station but no electric or water hook ups.   You do get a beautiful desert skyline and quiet evenings.

To reach the National Monument we drive through Why, AZ,...all two blocks of it.  We are easily entertained.  Lyn and Karen.

  

Lyn, giving Stuart a birthday back rub.  He turned 8 years old on the 12th and got to go on a long "only dog" walk in the evening to celebrate.    

"I am still handsome, aren't I?"  asks Stuart, milking his moment for the maximum ear and back rubs....

The view from the campground.

These are the organ pipe cactus that the park is named after.

The desert is beginning to bloom.

Looking back towards the RVs from the tent site at the end of the park.

Just thought it interesting to see the Road Trek towing the Jeep......They will be prepared to head off road.

This is what dead Organ Pipe Cactus look like and is how it got its name. Folks thought the dried stalks resembled organ pipes.....   Yeah, I don't know what they were drinking either.....

Touring through the visitor center we read about this strange looking piece. Apparently when the birds make those holes in the saguaro cactus that turn into nests for birds and even bats the cactus lines the holes with scar tissue sort of substance that allows the cactus to keep living.   If/when the cactus does die, all the rest of the cactus eventually deteriorates but the scare tissue remains behind to look like strange containers.

Karen is holding up a slice of a saguaro cactus.  You can see the ridges around the outside and the inner circle of slats that provide the strength of the cactus.

We took the 21 mile, dirt, Ajo mountain road with the Honda.

We got out from time to time to stretch legs and stand on the hills in awe.....

There are some shorter hiking trails around the park but I wasn't brave enough to walk off into the desert by myself.   Dogs aren't allowed to hike trails in National Parks but luckily the campground is large enough and in the middle of enough wonderful vistas that neither the dogs nor I left  feeling short changed......   (And for those that only get the snow updates from the mid-west and New England.  The temperatures are above average down here in southern AZ. We have seen 85 degrees two days in a row. Luckily evenings cool off in the desert for good sleeping.)