February 24-26, 2017 Organ Pipe, Arizona

We hiked up the Desert View nature trail at sunset last  evening.

The same organ pipe cactus covered ridge as the sun sank lower. The back lit  Teddy bear cholla cactus at sunset just glowed.

More back lit cholla with an organ pipe cactus too. Don’t they look so soft and fuzzy like you should come pet them?? These are the same vicious  cactus that attacked me twice with spiney segments that seem to jump at you with barbed spines that were very painful and almost impossible  to remove. They seem to glow even during the day too. Sunset with organ pipe and cholla.

A view of the campground from the top of the ridge. I finished up this basket for the coming up sale. The kokopeli is set in epoxy resin with some chips and surround by them in the bottom and top of the basket.

Today we drove to the south end of the park to hike to Milton mine. We drove along the  border fence. There is a Mexican highway just on the other side. This is the vehicle barrier part of the fence on the border. It is built our of repurposed railroad rails from when they built the Hoover dam.  The railroad delivered concrete to the dam site.

John at Milton mine. Can you see all the blue copper ore?  Yellow evening primrose, black water bottles- the immigrants carry these because they don’t show up at night like the white milk bottles., gravel ghost missing a petal, wooly daisy and a big chunk of copper ore.

These are some St Petersburg chains I am learning to put on my baskets. The two thinner ones are single chains and the green on on the left is a double St Petersburg chain. I will now make some small baskets and put these around the necks.  First basket with the beads. They are only attached with a couple needles now, but will attach them permently after dinner.

John making pizza on the grill tonight.  Today we hiked to Bull Pasture Loop via Estes Canyon.  See the switchbacks at the top of the map. 3.7 miles round trip.  It was a very steep trail- lots of elevation.

Since it is higher elevation it is much lusher. The poppies are starting to bloom.

More poppies. It is a really pretty canyon.

The views were really nice at the top. Looking back at the campground on the other side of the valley. You can see the winding road in the valley of Ajo Mountain drive.

John having lunch in a very comforable position.  The trail.

Looking down into Estes canyon were we came up. Rocky view.

John in a cholla tunnel. Yikes. John photographing flowers on the way back.

Saguaro and poppies.

Beautiful hike and drive to get there.  Blue Dicks, lupine, ferns, agave seed heat, a spire with a lone saguaro at the top and jojoba leaves.

February 21, 2017 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

76 degrees, sunny, calm and lovely. I hiked round trip to the visitors center to hear a ranger talk on Sky Islands and watch the movie about the park. John smoked some tasso. Then I worked on my basket.  Relaxing day.

Organ pipe and Senita cactus look a lot alike. Today I photographed the difference at the visitors center. The Senita have gray and white spines, some times called old man’s beard. There are fewer pleats and they  are wide and flat and the top is star shaped.The organ pipe has red spines, more pleats and they are smaller and closer together.  The red flowering bush is chuparosa.

These purple flowers are about  1/8 of an inch wide and grow on this plant which is about 8 inches tall. Quitobacito pupfish. They are only found in Quitobocito spring here in the park. I don’t know what this white flower is. I also don’t know the top left one either, but it grows on the plant next to it. The whole plant is about 1 1/2 inches tall.  The yellow flowers are desert bladderpod.

Sunset had a few clouds. The sunset looks like a guy in the sky, see his feet and arms thrown up over his head? 80 degrees today, sunny and no wind. We went for a short hike in Alamo Canyon. John walking in.

The flowers are already blooming after the rain. John photographing a patch of phacilia. Looking up at the side of the canyon.

Organ pipe arm bud, phacilia, little lizard and brittle bush buds. Many different yellow flowers.

We hiked up to the remains of a ranch. There is a spring here, so there is water year around. John walking in the lush foliage.

Purple flower, Palmer’s pentstamen, two flowers I don’t know. We walked back along the creek bed which was wonderful with the water from the rain last weekend. Usually it is dry here. John caught a dead snake in this pool.

Yellow flowers, cool cloud, pink flowers and Palmer’s pentastamen. The water was so refreshing on an 80 degree day we took a dip.

And had lunch at this pool.  Rock with cyrstals, phlox, wooley daisy and ferns.

Another cholla attacked me on my boot and ankle. Ouch. I was able to get them off with a stick, but I bought a comb in Ajo incase I run into anymore. Mallow flowers and the snake John found. it is a Lyre snake. Montezuma’s Head.

We took a drive down to the border of Mexico to check out Lukeville. Not much there. On the way back are these signs, Welcome to Arizona and Organ Pipe Cactus Parkway, scenic road. We also drove to Ajo for groceries. We passed through Why, Az, which has the Why not travel store and this pyramid. A few signs of events we will miss-the cornhole tournament, the Hemajkam run and  free dancing at the Why community center.  In Lukesville was the Gringo Pass motel and RV park.

Back at camp the clouds  and sunset were cool.

More sunset.