Organ Pipe National Monument

At Ajo, we started to see some unusual cacti around us.  Not very many, but a few.  They were “organ pipe” cacus and this is the far end of their range.  They are much more common further south.  In fact, there is an Organ Pipe National Monument down at the border which is a major area for them.

I had to do some looking to find the difference between a “National Monument” and a “National Park”.  Basically, a monument can be declared for any location or place of special significance.  A National Park has to have several elements of nature beauty, uniqueness, etc. and is, of course, run by the National Park Service.  Several different agencies, including the National Park Service, can operate monuments. 

We decided to not move the RV, but make this a day trip in the Jeep.  As we started out, it became clear that the 4 wheel drive was stuck in 4 wheel drive even if I shifted it into 2 wheel drive on the selector.  So we went a few miles to the blacktop road, and then turned around and came back to deal with that issue.  In desperation, I actually got out the owner’s manual and found out it was all operator error.  I’ve been shifting it wrong ever since we’ve had it.  Thank heaven there wasn’t anything broken!  When all else fails, read the manual.

So we got a new start and all was well.  The cacti in the Monument are very unusual, and pretty spectacular when you drive through the monument on one of the “back roads”.  They are gravel but easily passable without needing a Jeep, at least the one we took.

The best way to describe this visit is to show some of the pictures of the Arizona mountains and the sights inside the Monument on one of the loops.

Organ Pipe National Monument

February 2017