Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Last time we were here was in February, which is spring for this park. In January the only thing we found blooming was the ocotillo. This plant (not actually a cactus) is interesting since it looks like dead sticks until it rains when it takes only 48 hours for the leaves to come out.

The organ pipe cactus is found in only a small area in the United States. It is only found in the very south. Matter of fact, it was around 20 miles into the park before we saw the first one.

Every day we were there we saw a fire burning in Mexico. We heard this was farmers burning their fields.

Desert view

The desert had a spring. This is nice, but it took us around 50 minutes to drive here.

We did a lot of hikes.

There were several mines and abandoned buildings in the area. What a view!

When they dug, the tailings were moved out to this path and dumped into a hill.

The signs said it was gold, silver, and copper mining in the area.