Chobuck in Adventureland: We all explore the desert at Organ Pipe National Monument

Twin Peaks Campground

We stayed at Twin Peaks campground. It has 208 sites only 3 or 4 were occupied including us so it was very peaceful and serene. I imagine it's like a small town when the Snowbirds are here. They fill up the campground until March or April. After that until October it's pretty much a ghost town.

There is no electricity or any other hook ups. There is water available and there are flush toilets in the restrooms. They allow generator usage for 2 hours in the morning and 2 more in the evening. That's enough to run the air conditioner and charge up the batteries.

I had to talk Denise into going there. She was worried about the heat and how it would affect the animals. She had heard somewhere that they were experiencing triple digit heat already and so she didn't want to go. I grumbled that we had never been there and this might be the last opportunity, etc. So we ended up there. The weather was just about perfect. We had highs in the 80's to low 90's. At night it cools off to the upper 60's. As soon as the sun gets low it begins to cool down so we were never uncomfortable. We did take all the animals with us when we went exploring so that they could stay cooler in the truck.

As we entered the park and set up I mentioned to Denise that the Suguaros were blooming but that the Organ Pipe cactus were not although some had buds. I was hoping that they would bloom while we were there.

Being an early riser I got up at 5:00 am, started some coffee and went outside to drink it and watch the sunrise. In the early pre-dawn light there we white blooms showing on the Organ pipes. I immediately knew what that meant. They are night blooming. YAY! I got out my camera and tripod and went to work trying to get a shot of a couple.

Organ pipe cactus blossoms

Saguaro cactus blossoms

The ever elusive Gila woodpecker

After breakfast we packed up the animals in the truck and set out to explore the park. There are two loop roads, Puerto Blanco drive and Ajo Mountain drive. Puetro Blanco is 37 miles and Ajo mtn it 21. Both are low speed rough roads and we were stopping to hike a little and take photos so it was a most of the day event.

Puerto Blanco goes in a loop and is one way it follows the U.S. - Mexico border for the last few miles. As we drove the road the only other car we saw was a Border Patrol and he was driving the wrong way on the one way road. Seems about right.

The Sonoran desert.

A water station for those crossing and in need.

A Loggerhead Shrike in search of his favorite meal - lizard.

A rescue station for those in dire need of help

The blue light flash in a circle around the top.

There were water caches and rescue beacons placed throughout the loop. Evidence that people crossing the border and attempting to cross the desert have in the past perished in the attempt. It is a harsh environment.

About halfway around there is a trail to Dripping Springs, it's an easy walk to the base of the hill that it is on then are moderate to difficult climb up to the spring. Denise stayed with the kids and I made the hike.

Life and Death - Cactus skeleton and a young cactus

Giant barrel cactus - Unfortunately not blooming

Trail leading up to the spring

The spring - the black was from the walls - the water was clear

I pushed my walking stick into the center of the spring.

It went in to the handle and never touched bottom.

The mountainside where the spring is located

A cholla with dangles

This rock looked like petrified wood. I did not investigate

Back to the truck.

On to Bonita well. The was a line camp from the days before the park was established.

There were no buildings only the well, remnants of the wind powered pump and a livestock corral. I think it was used in the first third of the last century.

We stopped at the site of a couple of old mines for a picnic lunch. The mines are covered with a metal grate to keep people out. They both go straight down into the ground for an unknown depth. You cannot see to the bottom so they are like twin portals to hell below. I don't know what they were mining there were no plaques describing the mines. There were some quartz tailing so I assume it was probably gold or maybe silver.

Bonita well and the entrance to the corral

The loading chute

The patina of the wood after years of exposure to the elements is beautiful

A Teddybear Cholla. They are cute but definitely not cuddly. Stay back from them as they have a way of loosening individual pieces that will stick into you with a grip that sometimes requires pliers to remove the spines.

Sometimes predators become the meal as well. Turkey vultures we feeding on the carcass of this coyote that somehow met its demise in the wash outside of Bonita well.

This short fencing marks the border of Mexico and the US.

The highway on the Mexican side of the border leads to Sonoita and into the US at Lukeville.

This is the actual border fence. It is about 15' high.

Ajo (garlic) drive took us to the foot of Ajo Mountain. I don't know where the name came from we never did see anything resembling garlic in the area. That was our short excursion into Organ pipe and the next day we packed up and headed north and west to California and Joshua Tree National Park. More to follow...............