Quitobaquito Oasis

Today we drove almost to the Mexican border and took the South Puerto Blanco Drive (dirt) to the Quitobaquito Oasis.

The road parallels the Mexican-US border so we were able to see first hand the “wall” that exists there. It is a fence that will keep cars from coming in (posts are filled with cement) but would not keep a pedestrian from entering, but there are border patrol vehicles everywhere and a camera system right on the border. The drive through the desert was similar to our walk yesterday, but we did finally see the elusive Senita Cactus. This is a cactus similar to the Organ Pipe Cactus and is found only in this area of the US. We had looked for them yesterday, since we were in the Senita Basin, but this was the first time we actually had identified them. They are grouped columns with fewer ridges than the Organ Pipe cacti, but covered with a black “beard” of bristles at the top.

The Oasis was exactly that, just as one might imagine. We parked at the road end and walked down a path. As we passed through a glen of low shrubs, we were greeted with a beautiful pool edged with grasses and occupied by 6 coots. In the water we saw a number of turtles swimming. As we walked around the oasis we found the stream entering from the spring (high up in the mountain) and saw all the mudpups swimming and dining on the algae. All around this lush area was a desert full of cactus, mesquite, and creosote.  We tried following the entry stream up into the mountain, but the thick underbrush and no cleared trail made it futile.

This is a trip out into the desert everyone should make at least once.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)