Prickly Personalities : Lush Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is home to cacti, critters and quiet nights

A turkey vulture circled patiently overhead. I imagined it was watching our car as we made our way across the desert. I had come here to get away from it all and for a moment, I weighed whether I had gone a bit too far.

For years I had wondered about Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument--a little green square on the Arizona highway map, stuck to the Mexican border near California in the heart of the Sonoran Desert. Trouble was, it wasn’t on the way to anywhere so I bypassed it time and time again. Finally, the lure of such an out-of-the-way place became more powerful as my work life grew more hectic. My wife, Sue, and I resolved to have a look.

What we found was 330,900 acres of surprising greenery that is home to flora and fauna not found in other areas of the United States. Fed by two rainy seasons rather than one, as is the case in our country’s other three deserts (the Mojave, the Chihuahuan and the Great Basin), Organ Pipe Monument has grown lush because of the rain and because its vegetation has been protected.

The result is an almost garden-like preserve during the spring, following the winter rainy season. And importantly, it is the northernmost home for its namesake, the organ pipe cactus. With two dozen or more stems that resemble spires reaching upward, like the pipes of an organ, the organ pipe is the shady protector of a lively population of bats, birds, mammals, insects and reptiles that live among and around it and other vegetation, including mesquite and paloverde trees and saguaro and other cacti.

Ancient nomads, later the Hohokam (now vanished) and the modern Tohono O’odham Indians, have called this harsh but stunningly beautiful country home. Miners and ranchers have worked it. But nature has won the territory, with the assist of modern legislation. Organ Pipe was created in 1937 to preserve a grand expanse of Sonoran Desert, which is mostly in Mexico but stretches into parts of Arizona and California.

These days, cars ply the nearly deserted roads, which were painted with bright yellow brittlebush blossoms early last March during our four-day stay.

We approached the national monument by cruising south on Arizona 85, our compact car crammed with camping gear. Even before reaching the visitor’s center, 22 miles south of the town of Why, I was stunned by the desert’s blazing color.

By 11 a.m., we had set up camp in the park and returned to the visitor’s center to get oriented. There we purchased brochures containing driving and hiking maps and telling us about the common plant and animal life.

We learned that the desert tortoise, coyote, ring-tailed cat, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, elf owl, gray fox and kangaroo rat inhabit the area. We learned that this is the farthest north the Sonoran pronghorn (which resembles an antelope) can survive. We learned that two loop drives accessible to passenger cars cover much of the monument’s terrain. We took them both.

The first day we cruised the smooth dirt surface of Ajo Mountain Drive, 21 miles through rugged scenery along the highest mountains in the park. At Diablo Canyon, we drove through vast groves of saguaro marching up the hillside like troops. Mixed in were jumping cholla with knobby fruit hanging like Christmas ornaments. I saw the teddy-bear cholla, so named for its fat arms and sharp spines that look thick and fuzzy from a distance. The bent arms of the numerous giant saguaro cacti made them look human, and we observed humorous actions or expressions in their fanciful forms.

“There’s a mother shepherding her children,” my wife announced. “Over there, one cactus is punching another!” I countered. Down the road, a late-afternoon moon peeked over a natural rock arch gracing a ridge line in Arch Canyon.

Another day we took Puerto Blanco drive, the other main loop that journeys through 53 miles of diverse desert landscape, also on smooth dirt surface. An occasional mountain bike shared the road with us during the four-hour trip, some of which parallels the Mexican border--in places, only 100 feet away.

Winding down through dry washes, we passed traces of human activity. Abandoned mine shafts and a derelict corral and windmill met us along the ride--signs that this area was the unrequited hope of prospectors and, to a certain extent, ranchers, earlier in the century. I pondered how they fought to control the land, only to relinquish it, as nature proved stronger and more stubborn. But this provided a bonanza for us. We stopped to watch a badger with two of its young amble down the road. A turkey vulture shadow crossed the road ahead of us. A road runner challenged us for the road’s right-of-way.

One of the two side trips we took off the Puerto Blanco ended in the Senita Basin, haven to the sharply pleated cactus of the same name. Like the organ pipe, this large cactus has a tenuous foothold in the United States, and this is the northernmost place it is found.

Hiking was the other method we used to explore the park and its riches. We adopted the plan of hiking in the cooler mornings and doing the drives in the afternoons. Before starting out, we rigged ourselves with hats, sunscreen and water bottles.

It was unexpectedly quiet as we left for the one-tenth-mile nature trail that begins behind the visitor’s center and offers a good introduction to common plants of the Sonora by matching the numbered stops with descriptions in the printed guide we purchased at the center.

We also followed another trail--this one departing from and ending up at our campground. The Desert View Nature Trail (1.2 miles round trip) led us up to panoramic views of the park and even the mountains of Mexico.

Whether in a tent or RV, staying at the park campground is the best way to immerse yourself in the desert beauty and wind down from the pace of city life.

Sonoran plants surrounded our campsite. An organ pipe cactus loomed beside our tent, and a neighboring saguaro furnished a landing place for a cactus wren. I watched, amazed, as a pair of quail wandered nonchalantly by me toward a spindly ocotillo plant. And though some dangerous animals (several types of rattlesnakes and Gila monsters, tarantulas and scorpions) are native to this desert, I saw none in camp on our visit. Reassuring, but no guarantee. To be on the safe side, rangers recommend toting a flashlight on nocturnal treks as many desert animals are active at night.

Camping at Organ Pipe had its people side, too. RVers climbed atop their homes on wheels to watch the desert sunset. Swiss tourists exploring America by RV played a lullaby to the campground with four huge alpenhorns so long that the flared ends rested on the ground 10 feet in front. An impromptu dinner-time conversation with neighbors in an enormous RV revealed to us the difficulties of getting massive vehicles into modest accommodations. We preferred our tent, even though there is a motel in nearby Lukeville, which also has the nearest gas station, grocery store, post office and Laundromat.

Life in camp was lazy. Our chief task was to move our chairs to follow the shady side of the tent. Guessing which saguaro an incoming bird would land on was occasional sport. But don’t think this uncommon chance to put my brain in neutral and enjoy nature’s rhymes was wasted.

Both day and night I turned my eyes to the big Arizona skies. I watched the sun settle into a saddle between two hills. Nighttime, this far from city lights, unveiled a Milky Way of astonishing clarity.

A too-early start on departure day meant striking the tent while still dark. But we reveled in one last desert sunrise on the road, the sun spilling over saguaro-studded hills, its orange aura extinguishing the stars.

GUIDEBOOK: On the Cactus Garden Course

Getting there: Southwest, Delta and America West fly to Phoenix and Tucson (about $100 to Phoenix and $140 to Tucson, round trip, advance purchase), both about a 2 1/2-hour drive from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. (Southwest, Delta and America West have nonstop service to Phoenix; Delta flies nonstop to Tucson and America West flies direct.) To reach the monument from Phoenix, take Interstate 10 west to Arizona 85, then south on 85 to the monument. From Tucson, take Arizona 86 west to the town of Why, and 85 south to the monument. Monument entry fee is $3 per vehicle.

When to go: The thermometer dictates a trip to Organ Pipe between October and April, when daytime temperatures are in the 70- to 90-degree range and nights are 40-55. Summer temperatures run 100 degrees and above. Wildflower blossoms peak February-April, although display time and intensity varies with each year’s rainfall. Organ pipe and saguaro cacti bloom in May and June.

Where to stay: Camping is $8 per night per tent or RV (no RV hookups) at the Organ Pipe campground, which does not take reservations and usually fills up by midmorning between mid-January and late March. Nearest lodging is the Gringo Pass Motel in Lukeville, five miles south of the visitor’s center; rates are $45-$69 per night (telephone 602-254-9284).

For more information: Contact the Superintendent, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Route 1, Box 100, Ajo, Ariz. 85321; tel. (602) 387-6849.