ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Friday, February 10 - We headed about 20 miles south this morning from our campground in Why, AZ to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Our first stop was the Visitor's Center where we watched a 15 minute video about the park and talked about different hikes with the park ranger.

This is the cactus the park in named after.

We decided on Victoria Mine trail. It is a 4.5 mile trail that is rated as easy. We must be feeling our age because we both felt moderate would be a better rating.

It crosses several washes and is a series of  short uphill and downhill switches.

One of many washes.

Beautiful scenery all around.

Blooming Ocotillo.

We had to ask this guy directions, but had no idea which direction he was telling us to go.

The hike ends at Victoria Mine, home of one of the oldest historic sites on the monument grounds. The old mine shafts are covered with steel grating to prevent entrance and to protect the bat population living within the mine. The ruins of the miner's house remain at the sight.

We paused at the mine for a small snack before beginning our return hike back to the trailhead. According to our I-phone apps we covered a total of about 5.5 miles, 15,984 steps and were on the trail about 3 hours. It was in the high 80's by the time we reached the parking lot, so we were happy to be off the trail.

We were within five miles of the Mexican border, so Paul wanted to drive down to see the current wall. We had to drive two miles down a washboard dirt road to reach the border.

Surprisingly, we did not see any Border Patrol, but they probably knew we were there. The wall was a steel mesh and about 12 feet high.

Can you see it going all the way up the mountain?

Mexico.

We then returned to the desert along AZ Highway 85 in search of Crested Saguaro cactus. The brochure we obtained at the Visitor's Center calls them Cristate Saguaro cactus. (What do you think, Pam?) They are called Cristates because they often resemble the crests found in medieval times. This anomaly is rare but can be found on cactus scattered across the Southwestern United States. We found three today. Yea for us!

This one was right along HWY 85.

Bella even enjoys looking for crested saguaro and found one!

We returned home to the Hickiwan Trails RV park to find a welcoming crowd of donkeys “honking” are arrival. They were right by the front gate having visited the pond behind the casino. Funny!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

BACK TO THE DESERT SETTING

Thursday, February 9 – Well, here Marsha goes. She is going to try to publish the blog using Blogger for now. She may be switching over to another platform when she finds the time.

We had a short and nice drive this morning from Yuma, AZ, to Why, AZ. Why is a tiny unincorporated rural community in Pima County, Arizona. There are two buildings in Why. That’s all folks.

We are staying at Hickiwan Trails RV Park. This is a Native American park and at the end of one day here, we love this place!

Gravel roads and sights at the edge of the desert. The sights are nice and level with full hook-ups and a concrete patio. We even have a tree out our back window. We choose a 30 amp site because we liked the secluded spot near the end of the row. For the first time since we started full-timing, 2009, Marsha forgot to take photos of our site. She feels terrible. She went online and is borrowing the following two photos. They aren’t near as good as our site was but gives you an idea of the park.

There is a casino at the entrance to the park. We walked up to check it out. It is very small but there are mostly penny slots which we like. We may give it a try one evening.

We are ten feet from a walk in the desert and Bella, our cat, loves walks in the desert.Soon after getting set-up in our site (C13), we took her for a walk.

She is acting a bit shy.

We then relaxed waiting on the sunset. They are so beautiful in the desert! We weren't disappointed. To add to the thrill, there is a nearly full moon tonight. Tomorrow it should be completely full.

An additional attraction are the donkeys! Yep, the desert area around the park is full of donkeys. They come up behind the casino in the evening to drink the water dumped by the casino water filtration system. The neighbors say they “honk” all night. Ha ha! We've been warned to watch our cat too. There are many coyotes in the area.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!