Thither & Yon

Organ Pipe Cactus! They’re super cool.

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Monday, April 26, 2021

THIS PARK IS SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Yes, there are organ pipe cacti and they are very cool, and there are lots of saguaro and you know how I feel about those, but this park also has amazing geology, with volcanic mountains jutting up all over and about with crazy enthusiasm and color. You are all lucky I promised not to overload the blog with pictures of rocks, because that is my very strong impulse right now. I’ll try to keep them mostly contained to Instagram. The drive to get down here was quite long, so that are a bit into our exploring time, but we still got to spend more time here than in any of the other parks so far, and we made good use of it.

Our first stop was the visitor’s center, where we discovered that even when there don’t seem to be any rangers about, if you ask for one, one will appear! We quizzed her on cacti and the best things to do in the park (“don’t get t-boned driving out of the parking lot” was her first piece of advice). I also asked her where I could see the bobcat in the saguaro. Her blank stare told me this joke is not as overused as I expected. “I’ve seen the pictures,” I elaborated. “Bobcat hanging out in a big ol’ saguaro. Just hoping you could point me to that specific cactus.”

I don’t think wearing masks is good for the transmission of my hilarity.

Per the ranger’s advice and tips we’d seen online, we headed out to Ajo Mountain Drive (not even getting t-boned in the process). The views were like every desert stereotype you can think of got together for a party. We drove up a dirt road with every sort of cactus you can imagine lining the road on either side. The sun shone golden on craggy mountains in the background while a pair of turkey vultures glided overhead.

Ajo Mountain Drive is also the route that leads to my top two hike choices. (“Your hike choices?” I hear you ask. “Haven’t we recently established that you can’t be trusted to choose hikes?” YES, but only on the fly! I did research on these.)

We did the Arch Canyon and Arch Trails and the Estes Canyon/Bull Pasture loop. I will write some detailed blog post about these hikes, but for now I will say hiking Black Mountain last week was an excellent introduction to these hikes. SO STEEP. And 100% worth it. They were both incredible hikes putting the park’s awesome geology on display and providing stunning views all the way into Mexico.

The day couldn’t have been better for such intense trails, being lightly overcast and never hotter than 72° with a lovely breeze. The clouds also made for a different sunset experience than the one we got at Saguaro NP.

And finally a pro tip for others heading this way and planning to stay until sunset: pack lunch and dinner. You have an 80-mile drive to the first restaurant options, here in COVIDIand.