Next stop on our adventure: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
This was a beautiful tour through a very special portion of the Sonoran Desert. Apparently, it’s incredibly rare to see an Organ Pipe Cactus outside of this park because they are so tailored to the specific ecology that’s found here. The Organ Pipe Cactus (or Oregon Pipe, if you’re my kids) reaches full height of about 15 feet, but only once they’re around 80 years old. Once they have the strength and protection of size, they can live to be over 150 years old. Pretty impressive.
Our kids have loved the desert and really enjoyed learning about it. It was pretty hot while we were here visiting, so we only did one hike. We chose the Arch Canyon hike and even though it was short, we all really enjoyed the views. We also did the gorgeous Ajo Mountain Drive (guided by the trusty Junior Ranger and Grown-up Ranger Books) to be able to see a nice cross-section of the park.
It was completely worth the drive (so far south that my cell phone switched to Mexico service) and a really beautiful desert park to see.
