American desert
Written: Sep 02 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Scenery: |
 |
|
| Crowds: |
|
|
| Time needed for visit: |
 |
|
|
Pros: See "stick 'em up" cacti up close and personal
Cons: Very out of the way
The Bottom Line: Man, those cactus trees are cool!
|
|
|
| rasiel's Full Review: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument |
This national monument is found on the mexican border on Arizona's southernmost section. Figure on taking a full day by car on getting there and back from either Phoenix or Tucson. Although any Arizona map shows with some prominence the town of Ajo I remember seeing no business there other than a gas station/convenience store; I certainly don't remember seeing any motels though there might be. Ajo does have a photogenic church. Here's my snapshot: http://rasiel.addr.com/epinions/Ajo.jpg
There are also two other "towns" that show up in maps of the area near the park. Why and Lukeville. "Why" is properly named since it's a location marked by an abandoned gas station and some dumpsters but no inhabitants (much less services) and Lukeville is also a non-town which is really the customs offices for the INS which serves as the entry into the Mexican town immediately to the south - this, by the way, is decidedly not recommended unless you get a kick out of seeing squalor and people looking at you funny.
In any case, you might do well to plan your trip around the lodging issue and even dining/drinks. The visitor's center has bathrooms and a vending machine.
So what about Organ Pipe itself? Well, it's an awesome place to go to despite all these caveats. The star attraction are the saguaros and organ pipe cacti which you can get to as close as you dare. They're usually about 15-20 ft. in height and each one looks very different with cactus shoots rarely looking like the ones in cartoons. More often they're intertwined. Many, if not most, are also damaged near the bottom (presumably thirsty animals?). The blemishes detract somewhat from the photography value but there are so many that you're bound to find some worth standing next to for the family album.
Here's a picture I took: http://rasiel.addr.com/epinions/Saguaro.jpg
There are two driving tours to either side of the entrance road (which continues all the way to Baja California on the other side). These two purpose-built driving roads soak up as much of the scenery as possible but they're not recommended for cars because of the gravel and the danger of being washed away in case of flash floods. These are best done on SUV's. The area is well-patrolled by park rangers and the INS (for obvious reasons) so you're likely not going to run into much trouble even in the unfortunate case of vehicle breakdown.
If you've any other questions just email.
Ras
rasiel@rasiel.com
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: Anytime
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
rasiel
|
|
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.