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| An organ pipe cactus right next to our campsite |
We finally left Yuma last week and headed for Organ Pipe. What an amazing place this has been. The contrast between Yuma and Organ Pipe is profound. In Yuma we were constantly pelted with highway noise, sirens and the normal city sounds. Out here in the protected area of this park it is quiet. No wait, it's abnormally quiet to ears accustomed to manmade noises. The night sky is filled with stars you don't normally see in city areas.
We attended a brief session put on by one of the park rangers who explained the history and environment of the Sonoran desert. Organ pipe cacti don't grow anywhere else in the world but here. The seeds that don't get eaten by animals or insects germinate and grow very slowly. In 10 years they are only three inches high.
In the photo above these organ pipe "babies" are probably older than our children. The Sonoran desert is simply amazing to view. Ordinarily, when you hear the word "desert" what comes to mind is a vast sea of sand punctuated by an occasional bush. Here, though, the land is generally very rocky with many Saguaro cacti sticking up out of the ground like so many needles.
The low plants you see here are brittle bush and creosote.
The nasty thing I'm about to touch is called Chain Fruit Cholla. I didn't actually touch it but those buds are filled with extremely sharp needles. When viewed under a microscope you would see that each spear has tiny needles that point in the opposite direction. When they pierce an object those tiny spears act as retainers preventing the main needle from being removed. Marilyn picked up one on the bottom of her jeans and it easily poked through and was irritating here leg. Removing the ball of needles was a chore.
Saguaro cacti can live up to 200 years. In the photos below you can see how they deteriorate finally ending up as wooden sticks upthrust as in a final salute to their maker.
Just before the sun sets, the failing light illuminates the Ajo mountain range to the east
As the sun sinks below the horizon, it casts a deep red turning to dark purple on the cloud base.
I'll post another entry in the next few days. There was so much to explore and see here in the desert.
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