Ajo, AZ & Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

From Tucson, we made our way further into the heart of the Sonoran Desert. We had some BLM boondocking land chosen a couple of miles south of the tiny town of Ajo, Arizona, on Darby Well Road. This location would put us within a half-hour drive to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Ajo, a former mining town, is surrounded by millions of acres of federal land (BLM, NPS, and the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge) and the tribal land of the Tohono O’odham Nation. And, what seemed like millions of Border Patrol agents.

The area got even more scenic further down the road, which of course negatively correlated with cell service and level campsites. We found a nice site to call home for the week with only one brief but tense moment involving a tenth of an inch of rain and a small ditch within sight of our window. Both the daily scenic walks available right outside our door and the nightly coyote serenades enhanced our experience here.

The other defining part of the landscape here are the remnants of the New Cornelia Mine, an open-pit mine, active from the early 1910s until 1985, for which Ajo was developed as a company town. It was the world’s third-largest producer of copper during its heyday.

The historic town plaza and churches are beautiful examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. The town is also redefining itself as an artist town with painted and mosaic murals to admire.

We had two weekend days to hike and explore the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, named for the columnar cacti that live on southern-facing hillslopes in this small part of Arizona, much preferring the warmer climate of Mexico.

The National Monument is also a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve which means that scientists from all over the world come to study and implement solutions for maintaining cultural and biological diversity while still advancing the economic activity of the surrounding areas.

On Saturday, we drove the 21 mile Ajo Mountain Drive to see forests of these cacti and do a couple of hikes -the Arches and the Estes Loop with Bull Pasture Spur trails.

We were able to locate these crested specimens because a Park Ranger said “You look like you’d like the Not So Junior Ranger Handbook” (targeted for ages 13-130, according to the book) and gave us one. He was correct, we will now always check if these fun guides are offered at National Parks.

Sunday was for more hiking, we did the Victoria Mine and Desert View trails.

Then, we drove to the US-Mexico border to see a wall, whose construction has closed a large portion of the National Park making many hiking trails inaccessible.

A nice Park Ranger here warned us to not go past the plants because the Border Patrol agents would race over to question us and search our truck.

She also gave us an interpretive tour of a historic ranch house from the early 1900s. We liked the ceiling made from cacti.