Since we struck out with hiking at Sonoran Desert National Monument, we were certainly looking forward to going to the other reason we stopped in Gila Bend. So we drove the 60 miles straight south to the visitor center at the Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument. This is another park that is off the normal tourist path--out in the middle of no where. Here we got educated about the park's name-sake. Early settlers named these unusual plants pipe organ cactus because that's what they look like.
This is the only place in the United States that these cacti live. If we drove ten minutes further south, we would be in Mexico. We would also be in that country's sister park that also protects them. Because they certainly don't like cold weather, this is the furthest north that pipe organ cacti can tolerate.
As we look out across the desert, we can see the varied cacti. When we traveled through Arizona two years ago, we were fascinated with these guys that we don't get to see in the Midwest. So today was a refresher course on Cacti 101 for us.
The ranger suggested we drive the 21-mile Ajo Mountain loop trail through the park to get a good view of all the cacti. There was also a 16-page guide that described what we were looking at during each stop on the loop.
The guide described the ocotillo plants that grow twice as tall as Mark's six-foot frame. They've gotten enough rain that the willowy arms are now covered with green leaves.
These tiny leaves line the spiky branches and help with photosynthesis. But when it gets too dry, the plants will drop the leaves to protect the precious moisture content in those long branches. This was the first time we saw an ocotillo leafed out this year.
Denisa was more excited to see that some of the ocotillo were even blooming this early. Two years ago we waited until April to catch our first glimpse of these fiery red blooms.
The hummingbirds and bees love these curious blooms almost as much as Denisa loves them.
Our trail guide also pointed out the adorable teddy bear cholla. (The last word is pronounced choy-oh--we assume everyone knows how to pronounce teddy bear.) The only thing cuddly about these spiky cacti is the name. They are engineered so they break off one of those spiky fingers if anyone gets close. In fact, they are called "jumping cactus" because they seem to be able to jump off to attack hikers that just walk by without even touching them. That's why Denisa is keeping her distance from this soft and cuddly little teddy bear cholla.
Its cousin is the chain-fruit cholla. From a distance, they look like they have clusters of green grapes hanging from their branches.
Up close we could see that the "grapes" were actually chains of the cacti blooms like pearls in a necklace.
We stopped to see the natural arch on our drive around the loop. We thought about hiking to the arch, but we were saving our energy for another hike--Bull Pasture.
There are two different options to hike up to Bull Pasture. The blue trail is longer, with a more gradual climb; while the red trail is shorter with a heart-pounding elevation gain. Whichever way we took to the top of bull pasture, we were taking the other trail back to make a loop. The advice we were given is to take the red trail to the top while your legs are fresh.
So we headed up (and up and up) on what felt like a mile and half stair stepper. The last half-mile was especially brutal. The only good news was we were in the shade part of the time.
We were hiking in the shade of this tall rock fin as we gained altitude fast.
When we got to the top of the trail, we were a little disappointed to find there were no bulls and no pasture at Bull Pasture. What we did get was a beautiful view of Ajo Peak in front of us. Four guys passed us on the trail, and they were headed on from this point to reach the top of Mount Ajo. They invited us to go with them, but Denisa was content to stay at this elevation.
Mark didn't opt for the longer hike. But he did scrambled up to the peak right behind us, just to get the view from there. That valley far below is where we were walking not long ago.
We stopped to eat our picnic in the shade of a small tree. We were blessed with another beautiful view for our lunch this day!
From our vantage point at the top, we can see the giant fin on the left that we hiked beside. We'll now head down that stair-stepper to get back to Estes Valley to continue our hike.
That means it is time for our continued cacti education, including the star of today's park--the organ pipe cactus. We found this cute little guy on the hike, and the cactus looks good too.
Our trail guide pointed out this specimen, with wildly flailing pipe organ arms.
Maybe it looked unusual because it had an unusual growth in the center. Occasionally, a pipe organ stem will form a crest, when the growth cells get confused and don't make the usual circular columns. Scientists don't know what causes this interesting crest.
It was fun to see the pipe organ cacti, especially since this is the only place in the United States where they grow. But we still love the saguaro cacti too. It is quite dry here, so the saguaro cacti grow very slowly in this national monument. A saguaro may be 90 years old before it starts to grow it's first limb. As we look over a hillside, we see lots of old cacti.
Denisa's favorite trail activity is to try to recreate the angle and look of these saguaro appendages.
Mark thinks this is silly, but he agrees to take the pictures anyway.
Denisa thinks he doesn't like it because he's just not very creative at picking a fun cactus to imitate.
Denisa, on the other hand(s), is very creative with her saguaro imitations.
She did not try to imitate this sad saguaro skeleton. It's interesting to see the frame under all those spines and green flesh.
It's amazing that these plants have lived in this rugged environment for so long. One of the ways that they survive their early years is under the protection of a "nurse tree." The saguaro will eventually outgrow the tree that protected it, and may even cause its death from taking over its water supply.
In the picture above, the nurse tree is the lime green palo verde tree. It's trunk and branches are a bright lime green, and they can complete photosynthesis to provide food for the tree even when it has no leaves. Isn't this Cacti 101 interesting?!?
We've seen a lot of barrel cactus on our walks through the desert, but this was the biggest. It's the first time we have seen a barrel cactus that was as big as a barrel.
As we finished our 4 mile loop hike, Mark is working on his cactus imitation skills. He has decided to give up on the saguaros, and decided to try a chollo instead. Let's just say that it looks like we need to stick around the desert for a little while longer to get his skills up to speed.
We finished up our loop drive, and read every word of our informative Ajo Mountain Drive Guide. We were sad that we couldn't hike in the desert near Gila Bend because of the violence caused by drug trafficking there. We found out that Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument closed for the same reason a few years ago. But it was re-opened in 2014, and today we felt very safe.
We've been blessed again by beautiful weather as we got to see another of God's creative creations--the organ pipe cactus in the southern tip of Arizona.
We are on a bit of a schedule, as we had to make reservations for one of our future stops so we could have a package delivered. Getting packages complicates the free-wheeling life of a full-timer who makes travel plans on the fly. So we had to head on west down I-10 at a pretty fast pace. As we passed Picacho Peak State Park, we looked longily at those craggily peaks. We read a review entitled, "The Hike from Hell" that described the vertical spans that could only be climbed with the help of cables lashed to the mountain. That hike will be on our list for next time!
Our destination is Gila Bend, Arizona, so we made a turn south to Highway 8. Denisa is still confused about the "G" and "H" sounds in Spanish. But she now knows that you pronounce this town "Heela Bend" just like you would say this monstrous metal sculpture of a Gila monster is a "Heela monster."
We are parked at another Passport America campground, situated behind the Shell gas station, with the Sonoran Desert surrounding both. The owners obviously like large metal statuary, as this dinosaur was really big enough to eat the top leaves from the trees.
Mark is really brave to be smiling with all these venomous creatures around him in the picture below. Those snakes and the gila monster look at home in the desert. This is part of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, and is one of the reasons we are camping here. We went by the travel information office in town, asking for suggestions for the best hikes. We were surprised that instead we got the advice that it was too risky to hike around here. When we asked more questions, her best advice was to hike only if we took a fire arm. The poisonous reptiles of the desert are not the problem, but drug trafficking is.
When the second local person we talked to gave us advice not to go outside after dark, we decided this might be a pretty tough town. When the sun was setting behind a stately saguaro cactus, Denisa hustled out to take a picture. Then she hustled back inside with her camera before dark.
So we are cutting our stay shorter than we expected. Maybe we should have stopped in at Picacho Peak after all! But we will stay long enough to check out the other national monument in the area--in the next blog.
The reason we made the stop outside the little-known town of Bowie, Arizona, is because it is an easy driving distance to two different national treasures. On our last day in the area, we made the 13-mile trip to Fort Bowie National Historic Site. As we drove towards Fort Bowie, we saw more pistachio orchards. We have learned that in many orchards they graft the best pistachio characteristics onto the stoutest trunks. That makes a line about a foot off the ground where the trunk changes texture to the new graft. We also found out why there are some larger trees in the orchards. Those are the males that produce the pollen needed, but then use the rest of their energy to grow taller. The smaller trees are the females that use all their energy to grow fruit, so they don't grow as big.
We would love to buy nuts from the locals that are growing them, but that isn't a possibility here. Everyone tell us that the orchards are now owned by corporations that ship the harvest to processing plants far away from Bowie. They are shipped in bags the size of a small automobile. That's a lot of nuts!
Our drive to the national park from Bowie was only 13 miles, but half of it was on winding dirt roads.
Along this dirt road we saw the highest concentration of century plants that we have ever seen. There are four of these once-in-a-lifetime blooms in the picture below, but there were a hundred others around them.
Besides being located along a dirt road, this national historic site is also unique in that there is a 1.5 mile hike from the parking lot to get to the visitor center. It takes dedicated tourists to make this hike through the mountains!
To keep us entertained on the hike, there were some plants starting to bloom along the trail.
Spring is just around the corner, as this bush is setting on tiny heart-shaped blooms.
There were plenty of the usual Engelmann cacti, but this pink cactus was prettier. It must have looked good enough to eat, as it had recently been nibbled.
Also along the trail was a reproduction of a Native American thatched wickiup. Made of the native grasses, they could be hidden in this environment for added safety. The Apaches lived here many years ago, and didn't take kindly when the white settlers made their way west.
Both groups made their way here because of the pass between two mountain ranges, and the precious water source of Apache Springs. Today it was a peaceful place, but in the 1860's, this was the location of much turmoil.
Our next stop was the cemetery, where many headstones told the story of this conflict. Most of them had the statement, "Killed by Apaches." This is the final resting place of John Brownley, who was the 25-year-old assistant driver on one of the Butterfield stages that delivered mail across the United States. The two drivers and their two army escorts were killed by the Apaches on May 26, 1868, as they made their way through this pass.
Just as sad was the death of Geronimo's son, who died of dysentery when he was only two. He was part of the group of Apaches held at Fort Bowie, and he died ten days after their arrival. The soldiers had the young boy buried at the Fort's cemetery.
We've walked for over a mile now, and we still haven't seen Fort Bowie. Built in 1862, it was the center of the military campaigns to protect white settlers against hostile Apaches. The remains of the fort are situated in a high valley surrounded by peaks.
There are only foundations and partial walls left of the fort that once housed 300 soldiers. Denisa is standing in the middle of the remains of one of their barracks.
Mark is standing beside the foundation of the commanding officer's house.
The officer complained that a fancy Victorian house was impractical to heat and cool, and certainly didn't fit in with the desert surroundings. Based on the picture, we would have to agree.
We walked around the entire fort, including its original location to the west. It was good exercise, but there are only foundations and partial walls to see. When the Apaches were relocated to other reservations, there was little reason to keep this fort in operation. So in 1894, the cavalry rode away and the buildings were left to decay in the desert.
As we circled to the end of the grounds, we heard movement in the brush near us. We spotted three collared peccaries. The one at the bottom of the picture had just started munching on the roots of an agave plant.
He paused to look at us before he continued digging up the root with his hooves and snout.
It must have been very tasty, as it looks like he was smiling in the next picture.
We watched as he completely destroyed the agave plant and ate only the roots. He left the green leaves with their barbed edges in a pile, but didn't even try to eat them.
Only minutes before, that plant had looked like this healthy agave plant. We could only imagine the kind of damage these javelinas can do to a flower bed or garden or field of crops.
Another name for that agave is a "century plant." That is because they must be very old before they bloom for the first (and only) time. They produce a once-in-a-lifetime stem with bright yellow flowers. The bloom can be very tall. Based on Denisa's 5' 2 and 3/4" height, we would estimate this one to be around 18' 3 and 5/8" tall. But that's just a rough estimate.
The one above was last year's bloom, as all the blooms have dried and formed seeds that were dispersed. That tall stem will eventually fall to the ground, and the mother plant that produced it will die. This blog seems to be filled with dark symbolism about motherhood today!
We are definitely back in the desert, surrounded by the cacti and desert plants. We didn't know much about desert plants when we first visited Arizona two years ago. Now many of these plants are familiar to us. In the picture below we captured from left to right: ocotillo, agave (past bloom and young plant) and the Engelmann prickly pear. It was a veritable cacti smorgasbord!
It seems somehow fitting to end our last day in our campground near Bowie with another beautiful sunset silhouetted by a blooming yucca plant. We've enjoyed the sites, we've enjoyed the desert, and mostly we've enjoyed the people at this stop in our journey!
