Wednesday, February 28, we arrived at OrganPipe Cactus National Park. The campground has no hook up, but a lovely campground! One of the best we have stayed in!
We needed gas in the truck, so we went to Lukeville to get gas, right on the border. Saw the wall, but we learned that a wall had been there for many years. First the entry point was built in the late 1800s to keep the Chinese from coming in through Mexico. Then another barrier was made to keep cattle from going back and forth to Mexico, causing some disputes between ranchers. Then a more permanent wall was built because of many car chases in the desert. This was a bit of a problem when the monsoons came and water would come rushing with debris. And wild animals could not cross freely where there was more water. So they put doors in the wall, which are often open now. That’s the history we were told!
We rode around the Ajo Mountain Drive. Absolutely beautiful!
We hiked half of the Arches Canyon trail - up to the part where it was not maintained and went straight up. A nice hike, but the best view of the arch was from the parking lot.
Saturday we hiked the Alamo Canyon - an easy 2 mile hike.
We then rode on to the Bull Canyon trail. This was our favorite trail! Nice views and a Rattlesnake along the way (we steered clear!).
For dinner, Kurt made wonderful scallops! Yum!!
After that hike, we went to Ajo for groceries (Lukeville was not a good place to go…they had no power). Nice IGA in Ajo! After putting groceries away, we hiked the Desert View Mile Loop. We really enjoyed this trail because it had information about the various desert plants and how the O’odham people sues them.
Sunday we hiked over 6 miles in the desert to the Tinaja Canyon. It was an ok hike - very easy, nothing special.
The Ocotillo were beautiful!
Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, you did not disappoint! The little chat times, education and looking through telescopes at stars, planets and the sun made our stay that much more enjoyable! We highly recommend!
No comments:
Post a Comment