Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southwest Arizona preserves over 330,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert. Considered a research mecca of the Sonoran, it is also a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve.  These sites are socio-culturally and ecologically diverse and provide learning opportunities for sustainable management.  A “green” desert, the Sonoran is lush with adaptive plants like the organ pipe and saguaro cactus and has a long cultural history including early indigenous settlers, the Tohono O’odham, the Coronado Expedition of the Southwest, European settlers, and mining operations.

It was a special experience to visit the monument in late April.  This is the start of the off-season as hot desert weather moves in, but a time when it’s still mild enough to enjoy everything and without crowds. We headed through the town of Ajo, Arizona on the way and enjoyed time in the plaza and seeing the Spanish Revival architecture.   The plaza is beautiful, with a park and train station and coffee shop and churches and restaurants.  It evokes a relaxed feel with welcomed walks in the sunshine and respites in the shade.  A small group was doing tai chi in the park – a wonderful little oasis.

After free camping for over a month, we made a reservation in the Twin Peaks campground at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in advance to make sure we had a convenient spot.  The campground was pristine (the whole park was) and, in this off-season, there were only a few other travelers there.  One group was from Switzerland and Germany touring the southwest in a caravan.  The campground gave us a great base from which to explore nearby trails and take the park’s scenic drives.

Ajo Mountains Scenic Drive

A 21-mile drive along a gravel road, this self-guided auto tour takes the traveler through a series of interpretive stops and trailheads.  We learned about the organ pipe cactus and other flora and fauna, about bajadas – the blocky peaks throughout the park, and about survival and adaptation in the desert environment.  This was an interactive way to learn about the landscape and cover more ground than we could have on foot.

 Puerto Blanco Drive

This route took us through a series of trails constructed on historic roads that connected the mines in the Puerto Blanco Mountains.  There are foot trails, an opportunity to be immersed in the desert landscape, and a view of the U.S./Mexico border.

Hiking

Old mine trails, interpretive walks, and long walks in the desert abound in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument..  We enjoyed solo walks along the Victoria Mine trail to historic mine sites (now habitat for the endangered lesser long-nosed bat) and among the saguaro and organ pipe cactus, cholla, and ocotillo.

 Borderlands

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument borders 30 miles of the U.S./Mexico border.  Just beyond the monument is a border patrol station, and beyond that is the town of Sonoyta.  A sister park lies in the southwest, and the popular beach resort community of Puerto Penasco is nearby.  

 Border areas are always interesting – a place may be the same physically, maybe even culturally, but with administratively distinct boundaries.  I did not anticipate seeing the U.S. border wall on our visit to the park.  The 30-foot high barricade runs from the border station along the natural ridges on the southwest boundary of the park.  Some roads in the park are closed for public safety.  Others along the boundary are open and accessible and lead to significant heritage sites and trails.

While the dominant aspects of the park are its rich ecological and cultural diversity, there is an important undercurrent of past and present border issues. Visitors are made aware that illegal border crossings and smuggling activities occur in the park.  This increases awareness but remains an unlikely interaction for the visitor.  Of higher risk is the harsh Sonoran Desert environment which, without adequate preparedness, becomes impassable.  This can be felt just from spending a little time recreationally hiking here. 

People crossing the border illegally face immense challenges in making the passage.  We saw a family group, already on the U.S. side, retreating to the border wall so that they would be seen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection; their reasons and needs of course unknown to us.  A few minutes later, border patrol arrived.  It becomes a real issue of humanity in the area.  There are bright blue water cisterns in the monument marked with visible blue flags that provide life-saving assistance to those crossing the desert.  There are numerous border patrol agents along the perimeter.  It was important to see a glimpse of what the region faces in the issues we hear about daily on the news.  It is complex and out of my depth, but necessary to learn and to feel uncomfortable about the variables, realities, and humanitarian issues in the monument and beyond.