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| Hiking | 3.60 Miles |
135 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.60 Miles | 3 Hrs | | 1.20 mph |
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| no partners | | ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT
With this week's mega-rains and numerous reports of flooding, road closures, power outages, and other general chaos, I thought a trip to Organ Pipe might be a safe bet. To be sure, I sent a pre-dawn email to the Ranger's Office answered by Vivian Sartori;
All roads and trails are open. Ajo Mountain Drive and Puerto Blanco Drive have been graded. Alamo may have some big puddles in the road, and the stream is running! You should be able to access everything you are planing to hike. Come see us - this place is always beautiful after a big rain.
Vivian Sartori
Division of Interpretation
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
#10 Organ Pipe Drive
Ajo, AZ 85321
(520) 387-6849 x 7304
With that positive report, Lynn and I packed up the F-150 and headed for Alamo Canyon and Arch Canyon. This gave me a chance to try out a couple of last week's birthday presents - renewal of my Annual National Parks Pass http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm and a new Mountainsmith Spectrum Camera Backpack http://www.travelgearblog.com/archive/m ... kpack.html
Alamo Canyon was first arriving at the TH noon-ish. The dirt & gravel road to the trail head had a couple of major puddles we blasted through with a little bit of wheel spinning. I was shocked to see a little Honda Civic at the TH (how'd that get through those mud holes?). At the TH you could hear gurgling water from the flow in the canyon. That "babbling brook" sound provided the background soundtrack for the entire hike.
Rains are "greening-up" just about everything particularly the Alamo Canyon brittlebush. Expect there to be a sea of yellow in the coming weeks.
We headed up to the corral and beyond turning back after a couple of hours. Couple of creek crossing required removing the hiking boots. Yikes! Water was cold 
Organ Pipe Cactus NM and the border areas to the west have always held a special fascination for me. Serendipity or unexpected coincidence that a couple of my favorite Organ Pipe image masters 1a. http://gallery.me.com/petedykinga#10021 ... olor=black 2a. http://thanks.arizona.edu/anseladams/ just happen to have special events this week I'm trying to attend 1b. http://cabezaprieta.org/events.php 2b. http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/exhibi ... ladams.php Jack Dykinga is presenting a photo lecture in Ajo AZ on 1/26 and Ansel Adams members only preview at Phoenix Art Museum.
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Route Editor
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