Organ Pipe

January 31. We arrived at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument just as the sun was setting. Just in time to find a campsite before dark and to grab a few quick photos with my point-n-shoot Sony RX100. The photo above was taken on our third night in camp, using a Nikon D800 on a tripod. I only had to walk to the perimeter trail just east of the camp to capture this image. The Sony photos are posted below.

Not knowing what the camping situation was we decided to reserve three nights at Twin Peaks campground. Twin Peaks Campground has 34 tent-only sites and 174 RV sites. There is also a primitive camp at Alamo Canyon with four sites. More on that in a later post. It seems this time of year there are plenty of open campsites, so perhaps reservations aren’t needed. I would expect later in the season the camp may fill up. There is also dispersed camping north of the park on BLM land. We appreciated the hot showers at the camp. We’re often in primitive camps without water.

As with most national parks, dogs are not permitted on the trails, although there is a perimeter trail that loops around the camp and dogs are permitted on that trail, on a leash, as well as the trail to the visitor center. There were plenty of dogs in camp. We managed to log close to four miles with Carson just walking to the visitor center and back and around camp.

In the morning we fired up the dutch oven, Joann prepared the fixings for Hash Brown Crusted Goat Cheese and Scallion Quiche. Another recipe out of Robin Donovan’s book The Camp Dutch Oven Cookbook. We put the oven in the coals and 45 minutes later we had breakfast.

After visiting Anza Borrego, Organ pipe is a whole different experience. This is the Sonoran Desert, with it’s iconic Saguaro cactus. The Sonoran Desert is relatively frost free and it get’s a bit more water than the other deserts of the southwest. Organ Pipe National Monument boasts the highest biodiversity of any north american desert. That means there’s plenty to see in terms of both plant and animals.