Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is about 120 miles west of Tucson, is about 550 square miles and is located along the Arizona/Mexico border.  Most organ pipe cactus is in Mexico.  About 95% of the organ pipe cactus in the U.S. is in the national monument, so it will be forever protected.

An organ pipe cactus.
A view from the visitor center.

An ocotillo (L) and a saguaro (R) cactus. The ocotillo only greens up after it rains.  Once it dries out, it  sheds all its leaves to conserve  water. It has a cluster of red flowers at the tip of each stick (see next photo). Ocotillo is pronounced oh-cat-tee-yo. Saguaro is pronounced suh-wah-roe.

The ocotillo in full bloom with its leaves.

A teddy bear cholla.  (pronounced choy-a)

A close-up of the teddy bear   cholla. From a distance it looks  soft and fluffy like a teddy bear, but as you can see, you don't want to get too close to it. My sandal   rubbed up against a piece that was on the ground; I needed pliers to  get the spines out. 

 Fairy duster; about a foot wide.
A barrel cactus: about 2' tall.
Another view along a 21 mile  driving tour road with an organ  pipe cactus in the foreground.

A 'baby' saguaro cactus about 2' tall. They use the shadowof other plants as protection until  they get big enough to survive  on their own.

Desert poppies along the Arch Canyon trail.

One of the few arches in the monument. The opening is 36' high, 90' wide and 720' above the trail.

A 'forest' of organ pipe and saguaro cactus.

The biggest one we saw.

A hedgehog cactus.  The only other cactus besides the ocotillo that was blooming.  Most cactus don't start blooming until the end of April.

On the way home, we caught the moon rising over Kitt Peak National Observatory. It has the largest collection of telescopes in the world: 26 optical telescopes(including the largest solar telescope) and 2 radio telescopes. It's at 6,880' on the QuinlanMountains.  

We got home just in time for this sunset.