Ajo Drive

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is one of our favorite national monuments. If nothing else, the weather is great: warm and breezy.

We decide to once again drive the ~20 mile Ajo MountainDrive — a dirt and dust road up into the mountain foothills. We had taken this ride two years ago and stopped to do the 4 mile Estes Canyon – Bull Pasture loop, a rigorous hike up into the mountains. This year we stopped at the Arch Canyon trailhead and took the 2 mile trip into the canyon. We stopped at the point where the trail became very steep and unmaintained heading up to the 2 prominent arches up on the mountain.

We highly recommend the Ajo Mountain Drive. The road is reasonably smooth and has fantastic views of the mountains and basin. The visitor center has a great booklet for a self-guided tour which explains the history, geology, and flora of the area.  We particularly enjoy trying to spot the cristates on saguaro and Organ Pipe Cacti.  This growth anomaly, not understood by scientists, gives the cacti an interesting appearance.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)