I visited Organ Pipe Cactus in January of 2020 and it immediately became one of my favorite places run by the Park Service. The location is incredibly remote but it is worth the drive. The Ajo Mountains and the cactus make for a great experience. I also included an entry for Ajo Arizona, which is a nice town worth stopping in on the way to the Monument.
With great reluctance I left Organ Pipe. I decided to head towards Tucson to do some much needed shopping, and to be somewhere that I could get TV to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday.
As I was leaving I debated whether to stop in the town of Ajo as it was about 20 miles out of the way. In the early 1980’s my sister lived in Ajo as she had married a guy from there. I remember visiting her and thinking it was the most remote place on earth, a dusty company town that was dominated by a gigantic copper mine. At the time the copper mine there was supposed to be the largest in the world. The mine closed in the 1990’s and given how remote it was I wondered what state the town would be in.
A mission style church across from the main square of Ajo.
I am glad I decided to visit as the town had much more character than I remembered and actually seemed to be thriving. It is one of the oldest settlements in Arizona having been founded in 1854, one year after the land was purchased from Mexico. The town is centered on a typical Spanish style town square, common in Mexico and New Mexico. It is small but very well preserved and charming.
The town square with a very nice Christmas Tree even though it is February 1st, I guess why waste a good Christmas tree on just Christmas!
Since the mine closed it looks like the town has become a small artists colony. Since it was Saturday there was a small farmers market with local artists, and some baked goods, but not a lot of farm produce. There is also a antique and art store around the corner from the square that was interesting.
The entrance to the antique market in Ajo.
Next to the antique store was a sign saying do not miss the artists ally, so I turned down to check it out. There were some interesting wall murals down the ally, and I ended up spending about 20 minutes walking the ally even though it was only 30 yards long.
Another mural from the artists ally.
Finally it was time to head out to Tucson. As I was crossing the Tohono O’Odham Reservation which is the second largest Reservation in the US there was a surprising amount of traffic. It turns out this weekend is the annual tribal rodeo and festival. I passed the rodeo grounds and was tempted to stop for the day but pressed on instead.
I spent the rest of the day in one of the busiest Costcos I have ever seen, and the military grocery at the Air Force Base in Tucson. Tonight I am parked on the Air Force Base dry camping.
I slept in a little this morning before heading out to explore some more of the Monument. As I was walking around I saw a European camper with Netherlands plates. I asked them how they liked traveling in the US and they said they were enjoying it tremendously and were looking for ways to come every year. I told them about our van in France and it started a long conversation about how we arranged things in Europe, and they asked questions about purchasing here in the US, as they are thinking about buying an American RV. It was an interesting conversation, and I learned about some places they really enjoyed in Europe to add to our future travels.
The campground tucked into the desert at Organ Pipe.
I spent the day doing a couple of drives along the other two scenic roads. These roads were interesting as they showed different environments in the Sonora. One was dominated by Saguaro cactuses. The other was a road that paralleled the Mexican border for 14 miles to a small natural pond fed by springs. The road was heavily traveled by construction equipment as they are building a section of the wall here.
Trumps Folly, a scar on the Sonoran Desert and a scar on the American Soul.
I returned to the campsite which is one of the best I have seen in the Park Service and is very well managed by the rangers. There are a couple of trails that leave from the campground so I walked the desert view trail and enjoyed the expansive views, and the quiet that you get when you are far away from civilization. The Park Service had put out very interesting plaques describing how the native American and early European settlers used different plants for medicine and to produce household goods. This place is special, the views are incredible, often the only sound you here is the wind, and both the day and night skies are pristine.
A Saguaro forest on the desert view trail.
When I returned to Scout for the evening I ran into Harry and Erna and we spent some more time over a couple of beers talking about traveling in North America and Europe. I also said good bye to John and Yvette my neighbors with the Tiger and thanked them for their advice on the blog.
Once again I finished up my day by attending another ranger talk. Tomorrow I am reluctantly off to civilization as the food cupboard is bare.
The plan for today was to drive the Ajo Mountain Road and hike a couple of the trails along the road. I woke up about 6 am and thought I would go out and watch the sunrise after I made my morning coffee. I made my way to the top of a hill and enjoyed the quiet of the desert morning. The sky was crystal clear which made for a pretty but not spectacular sun rise. I ended up wandering up into the desert and ended up with a nice walk while enjoying my coffee.
I tried a little artistic shot of an Organ Pipe at sunrise, but I miss the real photographer in the family.
After returning to Scout and puttering around for awhile I bought another day for the campground before taking off for the drive. The Ajo Mountain loop is a 21 mile gravel road up into the Ajo’s. Both hikes are near the base of the mountains. One is called Arch trail and is an easy 3 mile out and back, though I never did see the Arch. The other trail is two trails that connect to lead you to an overview that gives you views into Mexico, and back towards Ajo. When I got to this trail I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to hike the flat part and skip the 1000 foot climb to the overlook. I was able to follow two Park Service Rangers out looking at plant life.
Two nice examples of the namesake cactus of the park.
The park is being significantly impacted by the current government immigration policy. A large portion of the wall is being built across the valley floor at the base of the Monument.
These signs are abundant in the park.
It was early afternoon when I returned to the campground for lunch. I was planning one more short hike from the campground for the afternoon, but instead I ended up talking to my neighbor John for a couple of hours about Tiger ownership, military experience, and blogs. John and Yvette’s blog is www.theturtleandthetiger.com, it is their adventures full timing in a Tiger around the US.
This bird was singing up a storm when I went by.
Before I realized it it was dinner time and time for me to do my evening catch up with Ton. I ended the day with another interesting Ranger Talk on how nocturnal animals navigate in low light. The Ranger talks are one of my favorite things about the parks, and the young men and women who share their passion for the parks and nature always gives me a warm feeling.
Today I reached the target for the trip. When I was looking for places to go both Ton and Dylan my son said that I should visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. So I am here now, and I am really glad they recommended this place.
I was pretty low on fuel so the plan was to find a gas station before I left Yuma. I plugged the Monument into Greta and she gave me a different route than I took yesterday but I figured there would be a gas station on the way. The route took me through an extensive agricultural area in the desert. I learned why the Proving Grounds tested bridges in the desert as the Colorado River runs thru Yuma. The agricultural area is a result of tapping the river water.
The green of the fields against the desert mountains was jarring.
I ended up on the Interstate without gas and I really needed gas so I got off at the first available fuel. When I pulled up to the pump they were really gouging so I put in enough to get me to the exit from the freeway. A little further up the freeway I saw fuel at a reasonable price so I filled up. With the fuel problem solved i headed on down to the Monument.
The drive thru the back country was pretty quiet, with no towns for about 70 miles until I came into the old mining town of Ajo. My family has a connection with Ajo as my sister lived there for a few years. On the way out I plan on stopping to check it out.
The drive into the monument is lined with all types of cactuses not just the Organ Pipes that the monument is named after. On arrival I was a little worried about campground availability so I headed up there but there was plenty of room and the Ranger told me I could pick any spot that had a green card on it. As I was driving in I saw another Tiger like ours which is pretty rare. The spot next to it was empty so there are two Tigers parked side by side. The couple is from Massachusetts and they are full timing in their Tiger.
Scout parked up next to a large Saguaro cactus.
Once I settled in and finished lunch I decided to head for the visitors center along a walking trail where I got an introduction to all of the different types of cactus in the Sonora desert.
There are four types of cactus in this photo if you look carefully.
They were giving a Ranger talk when I got to the visitors center so I caught the end of it. After I consulted with one of the volunteers and made a plan for the next couple of days I headed back to Scout to prepare dinner. After dinner I spoke to my other neighbors who are also from the west side of Portland and finished the day with another Ranger talk on coyotes.
What can you say about Yellowstone. It is the original National Park and it is magnificent. It is also a great place to see animals. We visit often, and our son Dylan worked there as a Ranger for three years. We have also included entries about Grand Teton NP and the Beartooth Highway as they are both adjacent to Yellowstone and should be included in any trip to the area.
Today was geyser and hotspring day at Yellowstone. We visited all of the hotspring sites between the west entrance and Old Faithful. We then stayed for an Old Faithful eruption and had lunch. While the skies were still clear it was colder and windy so while it was good picture weather it was not good hanging around outside weather.
Hot springs near West Yellowstone.
Mid-afternoon we decided to head over to Mammoth Hot Springs as Ton was not going to let her friends see Yellowstone without seeing where our son Dylan worked as a ranger. We did not have the best light for Mammoth but it is still pretty spectacular.
One of Tons favorite photos.
We returned to our campsite well after dark tonight and whipped up a quick meal.
Cannot leave Yellowstone without a shot of Old Faithful.
Today was critter chasing day. The plan was to head over to Grand Teton NP and see what critters we could see. To facilitate that we rented a car for our stay in Yellowstone. Elephant costs .35$ per mile to drive, and we figured that the cost of the rental car would mostly be offset by the miles we saved not driving Elephant and we would gain the flexibility of being able to squeeze into smaller places. It turned out to be a good decision.
Noi is a professional photographer and ran her own travel magazine in Thailand. She asked me what the big five were in Yellowstone. I did not initially understand her question until she explained to me that there were a big five animals you should get photos of in the Serengeti. Ton and I did not know if there was an official big five list for Yellowstone, but we made one up consisting of Bison, Elk, Wolves, Moose, and Bears.
Bison on a river crossing.
We were not more than a few miles into the park when we crossed our first animal off the list as there was a large herd of Bison. After about an hour of photos were shot we headed on down the road towards Grand Teton. On the parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton we got to cross another big five off the list. There was a grizzly contentedly grazing right next to the road despite the considerable scrum of humans about fifty yards away shooting pictures. So far a good day.
Not sure who is watching who, the crowd did not phase this guy.
The weather was fantastic today with clear blue skies and highs in the sixties. Grand Teton was spectacular and we enjoyed a really nice lunch in the park.
Grand Tetons from our lunch spot.
Finally on the way home in addition to some more Bison we were able to get some nice shots of an Elk herd crossing a river. As well as watching some stupid human behavior as a clearly agitated Elk was being ignored by one guy who was so concerned with his photo that he risked getting attacked.
The Bull in this photo was very agitated with some people who were too close.
The plan for the day was to go to Yellowstone and stay at Hardy Campground. When we woke up in the morning we decided that we had not done Little Big Horn Justice so we decided to detour there on the way out of town.
We checked out the movie the Park Service has which is well done in trying to present the story from both sides. Then after the movie there was a Ranger talk which was also excellent. We ended the visit with a walk up to the last stand site. Our little detour cost us half a day and it was almost noon before we took off for Yellowstone.
We busted along as fast as we could but it was not as fast as we would have liked as there was a considerable wind blowing the entire way which meant we were moving along considerably slower than the 80mph posted speed limit.
We finally arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs around 3:30 pm, only to see that Hardy Campground had closed that day for the season. With a 60% of 1 to 3’ of snow forecast we had a choice of staying at Mammoth Hot Springs and risking the park service closing the road across the park for part of the day, or heading for West Yellowstone and staying in a commercial campground. We opted for caution and headed over to West Yellowstone.
Scout in a commercial campground in West Yellowstone.
We decided to start our return trip west to Portland by heading due east over the Beartooth Highway. This drive is absolutely spectacular and you really must include it in any trip you take to Yellowstone. It is one of our favorite drives in the US. A lot of better writers than I have described it so I am going to pass. All I can say is make sure you do it at least once.
The views on the Beartooth Highway are really spectacular.
After coming down from the Beartooth we jumped on the interstate and headed west towards Bozeman. The place we had picked out to stay was full, so we continued heading down the interstate until we came to Three Forks where we ended up in a commercial campground.
Our day started by joining our son Dylan for breakfast at the Youth Conservation Corp camp just outside Mammoth. Dylan has been a Ranger at Yellowstone for 4 years. This year he is working with the YCC which brings in about 80 high school aged kids for the summer. The kids get to experience Yellowstone and also help out with projects such as trail maintenance and putting in Bear boxes.
At breakfast we were able to meet some of the students and some of Dylans fellow rangers. At breakfast Dylan told us he had to do some last minute work for 3 or 4 hours and he would join us for lunch.
We decided to head out to Lamar Valley again while we waited for Dylan to join us. We stopped and took a short hike out into a field to get a look at a herd of Bison. We were following all of the rules staying the proper distance from the herd, but someone forgot to tell a bull Bison the rules. On our way back to scout we came around a curve with a steep hill to our left and a creek with a 5 or 6 foot drop on the right and ran into a bull Bison about 20 yards in front of us well inside the 100 yard minimum the Park Service recommends for safety. Ron decided to retreat towards the creek figuring we could jump down in the creek bed if the Bison took offense. As we moved down toward the creek Ton grabbed Ron just before he stepped on a snake. At this point the bull pointedly ignoring our little show sauntered on past and went on his way down the trail.
Bison grazing in Lamar Valley taken from a safe distance.
Deciding we needed Park Service supervision we headed back to Mammoth and picked up Dylan. We went to lunch in Gardiner just outside the park entrance, and then headed over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Dylan opted for home Thai cooking for dinner and invited one of his co-workers to join us. Ton made some of her famous Larb, and we enjoyed a nice dinner while hearing about Rangering with teenagers.
We were going to try to make it to Mammoth Hot Springs Campground because it is the closest one to where our son is working at the park this year. He told us that they are having record visitors this year and if we wanted to get in the campground we needed to be there before 10am. So we got up early and headed into a very rainy cold day. We forgot just how big Yellowstone is, the drive from Grand Teton to Mammoth Hot Springs on the north side of the park was 104 miles and took nearly 3 hours because of the typical tourist traffic and some much needed road work.
When we got to the Mammoth Camp Grounds we found that there were plenty of camp spots still available, probably because of the miserable weather forecast 50 degrees and raining all day. We had some time to kill because Dylan was working all day so we began by checking out the new visitors center, and all of the stores at Mammoth. Of course given the weather we were joined by a lot of the other visitors.
During a break in the rain we went up to the hot springs and it seemed like they were flowing much better than the last time we were there. Ton took lots of pictures, and then we decided to head out to Lamar Valley as it was not raining too hard at that point. In Lamar the Bison were out in force and despite the weather there were plenty of people out.
Mammoth Hot Springs. One of our favorite spots in the park.
The park is indeed the most crowded we remember. It seems that the Chinese have discovered Yellowstone and must be contributing a great deal to the record number of visitors.
We had not spent much time in Grand Teton NP so we decided to spend a day exploring. We got up early as the campgrounds fill up early. The traffic in Jackson Hole was noticeably busier than the last time we had visited two years ago.
When we arrived we parked in the parking lot near the visitors center by the lake. Ton ran into the visitors center, and Ron was going to move Scout to a better location when another Malayan Tiger drove up. The Johansons were from Seattle and had their Malayan for about a year. He had done a lot of work on his truck so it dwarfed scout. They were quite nice and we exchanged stories about our trucks until we had to leave for a Ranger Walk.
Two Malayans and their owners.
We took in a nice ranger walk focusing on the lakes and the mountains in Grand Teton. As usual the Ranger was extremely knowledgeable and did a great job. We also attended a talk on Bears. Our plans to walk down to the lake for sunset photos was wiped out by a rain storm.
Ton loves Cactus, and the Joshua Trees are magnificent. The park is also famous for its’ rock formations. We really enjoy this park, and keep getting drawn towards it.
Ton brought up the idea of heading over to the coast. Our original hope was to stay at the Navy park on Coronado Island in San Diego, but as with every other time we could not get a reservation. We instead are at the Marine Base with an ocean front spot. We are not disappointed with not getting into Coronado.
We started out trying to get up for sunset but did not succeed. Ron ran out to try to get some just past sunset pictures but they did not turn out. On our way out of the park we stopped at one of Tons favorite spots the Cholla garden. The Cholla Cactus has one of the nastiest thorns of any cactus, but it has really nice flowers.
The cholla garden in Joshua Tree.
We took a back road from Palm Springs to Temecula which kept us off the freeways from Palm Springs to Temecula. The highway was called the Pine to Palms Highway and takes you thru the Santa Rosa Mountains. The climb out of Palm Springs is quite steep as you quickly go from Sea Level to 3000 feet. You go from desert to alpine and pass thru at least three different plant types. While the road is windy and narrow for Ron it is less nerve racking than dealing with Southern California Freeways.
We arrived at the beach and as we were setting up a nice couple came up and struck up a conversation about our drive down and the Tiger. Ron was hooking up things and Ton was outside speaking with the wife. A few minutes later Ron noticed water coming out of the truck. Sometime along the way one of us had bumped the water in the kitchen sink on. While we are driving we store some stuff in the sink so that was blocking the drain, and we had a flood. So tonight we are drying out the floor, and some of our dish towels and things are hanging up to dry.
Sunset from our campsite.
We ended the day by doing something we have never done in seven or eight years of camping. We built a campfire and sat on the beach eating our dinner and enjoying the sound of the surf.
Today we visited one of our favorite national parks. Ton really loves cactuses and Joshua Trees. It was originally in our plans for the trip with our friends last fall, but we cut it out due to time constraints, so we decided to head over on our way to the coast.
Near our campsite in Joshua Tree.
The drive took a little longer than we thought, and we ended up driving around for over an hour looking for a place to spend the night. At that point Ron realized that we probably needed fuel, so we ended up driving back out into town to the Marine Base to get fuel. The fuel there was 50 cents a gallon cheaper than in town.
Part of the trip was along an old section of Route 66.
We got back to our campsite just in time for sunset, and had a nice walk shooting pictures of the sunset, rocks and Joshua tree’s. It was also fantastic weather, clear and 79 degrees, so for the first time on the trip we will not need the heater.
We are getting used to the drive from Joshua Tree to Death Valley as this is the fourth time we have done it in the last couple of months.
On the way out of Joshua Tree we stopped at Skull Rock. The Skull Rock Trail is a short trail that highlights the non-cactus plants in the desert. Skull Rock really does bear an amazing resemblance to a skull.
Ton mocking skull rock.
We drove from Joshua Tree to Death Valley on a back road that passes thru Mojave National Preserve and Baker California. We were planning to fuel up in Baker as it had the cheapest diesel in the area last trip. Despite fuel prices dropping everywhere else on this trip, the fuel in Baker had actually risen to over $4 per gallon so we passed and drove on towards Death Valley, if we were going to pay an exorbitant amount for fuel we decided we would rather do it in a small desert community, then a large community right on the interstate.
Dantes Peak in Death Valley.
Today we visited Dantes Peak in Death Valley which is an overlook above the main valley. From 5000 feet you are looking the length of Death Valley and can also see for miles back towards Las Vegas. We stayed up for sunset and Ton got some nice shots.
Last night was spent in a great campground in Joshua Tree called Ryan where we were surrounded by granite rocks that make the park famous. We woke up early to the sound of rain and were worried as we had a busy day planned. Luckily the rain quit very quickly and did not amount to much for the day.
Our first stop was to Keys view. On our way up we passed thru a Joshua Tree Forest that Ton really enjoyed. We had been told by the Ranger at Mojave that the Joshua Tree’s here were a different sub-species than the ones at Mojave. Ton says she can see the difference, the trees here are taller and have less branches than the ones in Mojave. When we got to the top we had climbed into the clouds so Keys view was limited to about 50 yards.
Heading down we continued to enjoy the Joshua Trees and the drive. The next stop was the Geology Loop Road which is an 18 mile self guided loop that shows you the different rocks and the San Andreas fault. The park service says it is a difficult 4wd drive road, but in fact it is not bad at all and Scout did not even need to leave 2wd the whole way. We had the entire valley to ourselves for the entire trip which was fun.
Part of Geology Loop Road.
Next stop was the Cholla Cactus garden which Ton loved. The Cholla Cactus is a Colorado Desert plant and the Joshua Trees are Mojave plants to show the impact of the two deserts coming together.
A blooming Cholla Cactus.
The next stop was the Marine Corps Base at Twentynine Palms where we stocked up on food and did some shopping at the store. The last stop was the Indian Cove campground for the night. The campground is also a training base for beginning rock climbers so we got to watch some folks climbing, and even scrambled up a couple of simple rocks ourselves.
Ton commented that the campgrounds at Joshua Tree were among the best we have seen in the park service.
Joshua Tree is a popular destination for rock climbing.
Death Valley National Park is one of our favorites. It is huge and full of very interesting features. While it is quite stark it has a beauty that attracts both of us to return again and again.
Started heading home as we have a date on Sunday for a Christmas Party and our sons are coming home next week so we have some preparation to do. Had to make an emergency run onto the Marine Base to buy a replacement power cord for Ton’s Mac as hers died the night before.
We basically doubled back the way we came thru Mojave NP and heading north towards Reno, but instead of heading straight to US 95 we decided to run thru Death Valley NP as the main road thru the park parallels US 95.
We made a couple of stops including the lowest point in North America. Near there we ran across a couple of Coyotes who decided to pose for Ton, the first one even responded to her command to heal as she had not finished taking his picture! They both seemed pretty healthy and not at all skittish about people.
This very healthy coyote posed on command for Ton.
We had never seen Scotty’s Castle in the North end of the park so we made that our target for the day. We arrived just a little too late to take the last tour of the day, but got to walk the grounds. The grounds are pretty impressive and the back story is interesting as Scotty was basically a con man who got the money to build the castle by duping people into investing in gold mining operations when there was no gold.
Scotty’s Castle. Crime does pay!
Tonight we spent the night in Mesquite Springs campground which is nice and by a dry creek, that apparently was not dry last week. A flash flood came down the creek and flooded about a quarter of the campground,, but everything seemed back to normal.
Clouds are not a normal part of the sunset here.
Tomorrow will be a long boring driving day heading home.
