Sunday, November 23, 2014 (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Lukeville, AZ)

There were a few clouds when we woke up this morning...they made for another beautiful sunrise. The wind came up a little later and blew them away...so we had a lovely clear sky with temps around 70F/21C but it was windy all day.

We went out for a couple of walks today. We started by walking down to the Amphitheater where a geocache was hidden. It was a fairly easy find...especially since we were the only ones there. I'm a little disappointed that there aren't more geocaches in the park.


After finding the geocache, we walked back to the trailer, grabbed a couple of bottles of water and then headed down to the group camp parking lot and the trailhead for the Desert View Nature Trail. The trail is described as an "easy loop up a hill to beautiful vistas. Ideal at sunrise and sunset. Benches provided."


I signed the registration sheet for the trail....

There were numerous interpretation signs along the trail.
Organ Pipe Cactus...





Mexican Jumping Bean...


Ocotillo...

Up and up...

A close up of our rig in the distance...

Hedgehog Cactus...

Pakrat Midden...

Time for a rest at one of the benches...

Saguaro...



The description was right...beautiful vistas! The campground is in the distance...
Sonoyta Mountains in Mexico...

Close up of Lukeville AZ and Sonoyta Mexico...

Twin Peaks in the distance...
Time to head down...


Twin Peaks...

Brittle Bush....
Creosote Bush....
Prickly Pear Cactus...

Desert Mistletoe...

Close up showing berries...
Desert Ironwood...

It was an absolutely beautiful mile and a half walk with great views. We really enjoyed it! We were back home at around 1:30 and after having a bite to eat for lunch, we chilled inside for the rest of the afternoon. It was just too windy outside to make sitting out enjoyable.

I downloaded the pictures taken today and Steve edited them, while I did some baking and then read my book.  We also had a wonderful chat with Chris and Angela over Skype...it's so good seeing them. The newly-weds seem to be adjusting well to married life!

The wind continued all afternoon and evening...so much so, that Steve couldn't keep the barbecue lit...so much for grilling burgers for dinner! We settled for soup and a sandwich instead.

And that was pretty much how we spent our last day here at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We are moving tomorrow...only a short distance though to Gunsite Wash, a free BLM area near Why, AZ. Perhaps we'll get a chance to offload the quads and do a little motorized exploring!



6 comments:

  1. you are up early today! nice post as always
    safe travels tomorrow, can't wait to see where you land tomorrow!

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  2. What a great post for a cactus lover like myself! I really need to get there to see all the organ pipe cacti.

    I wanted to thank you for helping us plan our trip to Death Valley NP. I pinned your posts so I could refer to them when (if ) we got the park. Well last week we spent five there and had a wonderful time! What a gorgeous park.

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    Replies
    1. Organ Pipe had been on our "must see" list for some time...and it didn't disappoint!

      Sounds like you enjoyed Death Valley NP as much as we did! Glad we were able to help you plan your trip.

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  3. You answered a few questions we had about the vegetation. Thank you.

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