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Tag: crested cactus

26 March 2023

Cactus & cristates at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

blooming Brittlebush desert Ajo Mts clouds Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZSpent a few days exploring with a friend at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument searching for wildflowers and cactus cristates, an unusual growth that I’ll tell you more about.

bushes full moon set Mohawk Mts BLM Owl AZHowever, before leaving the Mohawk Mountains boondock in Owl, Arizona I caught the moon set with better luck than the dark of the night before.  Back on Interstate 8 east to Gila Bend, taking video along the way.  Absolutely scored finding diesel at $3.99/gal.  Though that’s still too much it was the first time all winter I found under $4/gal.  Sure does limit the miles I drive.

purple Lupin & yellow Bladderpod flowers SR85 ORPI NM AZLupine surrounded by Bladderpod

From there I got off the interstate and headed south on SR85 through lush Sonoran desert to Ajo.  The shoulders on both sides teased with strips of wildflower colors in yellow, blue, orange, purple, white, and shades of green.

plaza Ajo AZ

lunch Tacos El Tarasco Ajo AZMade a stop in Ajo for a few last minute groceries and lunch at Tacos El Tarasco at the Plaza.  Travel days I don’t make time to prepare meals so usually treat myself.  Why not?  Flowers continued to line the road for the 30 minute drive to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument visitor center, passing through Why, Arizona along the way.

truckcamper cg ORPI NM AZA Facebook photographer friend as yet unmet, Richard Strange, had a campground reservation for two nights.  I assumed I’d be able to get a first-come campsite at Twin Peaks Campground when I got there.  But of course now everything is reservations that MUST be made online through rec. gov.  (More about them through links at the bottom of this post.)  I should know better, but don’t frequent campgrounds on public lands preferring to boondock nearby instead.  With barely a signal at the visitor center I managed to signup with the reservation site and get two nights camping, with my pass $10/night.  It’s a beautiful campground (here’s my site view) with over 200 sites nestled privately amongst the desert vegetation.  Richard hadn’t arrived yet, being distracted for over an hour by a couple large Caracara birds along his drive from the Phoenix area.

cg trl desert Ajo Mts ORPI NM AZ

Sonoran Desert cg trl ORPI NM AZI took a short walk on one of the many trails that leave from the campground and felt immediately immersed in this dense and diverse Sonoran desert.

window sunset cg ORPI NM AZ

Richard & RockyRichard & Rocky obviously not outside my door

After dinner Richard texted me.  What I didn’t realize at first was he was right outside my door with his walker and dog.  I went outside, we met, chatted away like old friends, and made a plan to meet in the morning to explore Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

RockyRichard, and his dog Rocky, rearranged the minivan so I could sit in the passenger seat.  Rocky is the most loveable Pitbull I’ve ever met.  He’s a rescue from dog fighting, and now a service dog.  Of course he thinks he’s human so really didn’t understand why I didn’t sit in the back.  But he shared the seat and immediately moved when I wanted to sit there.

Redtailed hawk preparing for flight off pole N Puerto Blanco Dr ORPI NM AZWe started with the North Puerto Blanco Drive for the miles allowed non 4x4s.  I almost immediately saw a Red-tailed hawk perched and Richard understood the command to “STOP”.

yellow brittlebush flowers desert mts N Puerto Blanco Dr ORPI NM AZ

desert N Puerto Blanco Dr ORPI NM AZWe saw some flowers but not endless views of colors.  The yellows of Brittlebush and Bladderpod were most prevalent with a few orange patches of Poppy.  In fact as we drove by an area of orange along the banks of a dry wash I saw a vehicle I thought looked familiar.  And sure enough more known photographers were set up to shoot complete with reflectors.  We chatted briefly before moving on.

Cholla Saguaro cristate SR85 ORPI NM AZ

Saguaro cristate SR85 ORPI NM AZNext Richard shared some awesome crested Saguaro cactus not too far off the main road.  Referred to as a mutation, or abnormal growth, the crest or cristate, is certainly unusual and not all that frequently seen.  I suppose first, you have to be actively looking for them.  There is debate about what causes these typically fan-like shapes.  We spent a lot of time speculating on various growth patterns seen over the day.

Saguaro cristate SR85 ORPI NM AZFrom Wikipedia: “Fasciation (or cresting) is a relatively rare condition of abnormal growth in vascular plants in which the apical meristem (growing tip), which normally is concentrated around a single point and produces approximately cylindrical tissue, instead becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, thus, producing flattened, ribbon-like, crested, or elaborately contorted tissue. Fasciation may also cause plant parts to increase in weight and volume in some instances. The phenomenon may occur in the stem, root, fruit, or flower head. Some plants are grown and prized aesthetically for their development of fasciation. Any occurrence of fasciation has several possible causes, including hormonal, genetic, bacterial, fungal, viral and environmental causes.”

the Wall Gachado Line Camp Rd ORPI NM AZA very short jaunt took us to the border where neither of us wanted to be distracted by the wall.

yellow flowering desert Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZWe spent the rest of the afternoon lollygagging along the 21-mile mostly one-way Ajo Mountain Loop drive.  We searched for flowers and cristates, and ended up with a whole lot more.

Saguaro glomerate Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZAt one point Richard stopped because of seeing some weird growth on a cactus barely visible from the road.  I walked out to get a closer look and took photos with my camera and his 300mm lens Nikon.  It was at least two feet long.  Found out later from the Crested Cactus Society this anomaly is called a glomerate.  You may have seen nursery grown plants and cactus hybridized to create this look.

Redtailed hawk bird Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZRed-tailed Hawk

Cactus wasn’t the only sighting.

Saguaro crest Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZStopped for lunch at an actual picnic area with table—few and far between—offering an awesome view into a valley and another crested Saguaro not too far up a hill from the road.  If you get the guide for the Ajo Mountain Loop drive it’s #7.

desert cactus ORPI NM AZWe took advantage of almost every spot wide enough to park, and a few that weren’t.  Though I’ve taken this drive several times, I see it differently every time.

Saguaro anomaly desert Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZYet another unusual growth with wavy patterns are known as “spiral” or “checkerboard”.  Made us wonder if that was a sign for more crests to come.

bifurcated Saguaro Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZ

Saguaro bifurcation Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZSaguaro bifurcation Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZ g-2

And then there’s bifurcation, when the cactus, or an arm, divides into a split instead of the usual arm growth with a ring-shaped joint.

Crested Organ Pipe Cactus Ajo Mt Dr ORPI NM AZ

Sonoran desert crested organ pipe cactus Ajo Mt Rd ORPI NM AZFinally we got to #9.  Exactly six years previous to the day I saw this most amazing growth which I named the “octopuses’ garden”, my first ever crested Organ Pipe Cactus.

dead Organ Pipe Cactus with cristate Poppies at Organ Pipe Cactus NM AZI’d been told by a Ranger friend it had died since then.  I was sad.  Yet I’ve seen a lot of these Organ Pipe Cactus dying or dead during this visit.

dead Organ Pipe cactus sketleton cristate ORPI NM AZI was still anxious to see it, and got a closer look at the skeleton which clearly shows a very different growth pattern for the flatter cristate versus regular columnar cactus arms.

desert cloud virga ORPI NM AZWe continued with our drive-stop pattern, joking about the “plethora” of poppy patches, NOT.

crest Organ Pipe cactus Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZcrest Organ Pipe cactus Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZ

Richard shared a known-to-him/new-to-me crested Organ Pipe cactus that grows almost on the road.  It has several bifurcated and cristate growths.  How did I miss this one before?

desert Poppy flowers mt Ajo Mt Lp ORPI NM AZ

Poppies ORPI NM AZAs we came around the last third of the loop drive more flowers appeared.  Finally, some poppies.

Cactus Wren bird ORPI NM AZAnd a Cactus Wren too.

Sonoran desert Ajo Mts cg trl ORPI NM AZWe returned to our respective campsites exhausted from a long and wonderful day exploring Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Granny's Kitchen Why AZRichard and I pulled out of camp at 9am then slowly made our way north to Why for breakfast at Granny’s. Had to stop a few times for pics and Richard was scolded by Border Patrol for parking on the road.

desert Black Mt clouds Darby Well Rd BLM Ajo AZWe parted ways after a delicious breakfast at Granny’s Kitchen and I continued north towards Ajo and my next camp.

desert Ajo Mts reverse sunset clouds Darby Well Rd BLM Ajo AZAll this happened weeks ago and I’ve been busy so am way behind real time.

Rec. gov & film permits

Did you know that rec. gov is a private company with a government contract that makes a bundle of money but not much reaches the feds?   I highly recommend Todd/Park Junkie’s explanation about who is rec. gov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ab9frl8zE & about a Lawsuit Against Rec. Gov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7vYpSeAn6U .  This could be changed during the renewal of the Federal Lands Recreation & Enhancement Act.  Which also includes the issue of needing permits to share videos and photographs on social media for commercial purposes including YouTube, Istagram, and others.  So even though I don’t personally make any money on my social media platforms, somebody does, so legally I should have a permit.  Every park’s permitting system is different and the process takes time.  There goes spontaneity.  I’m going to do it anyway as my constitutional right to free speech and freedom of the press.  If I go to jail, I hope you’ll consider bailing me out.

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Arizona, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Places I've been, United States cactus, crested cactus, cristate, Organ Pipe Cactus, saguaro, wildflowers 23 Comments
22 February 2017

Back to Darby Well Road

February 13-19, 2017

Sunset saguaros Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaSeems I just can’t get enough of the peace and quiet beauty of the desert so I returned to Darby Well Road after two days in Ajo at Belly Acres RV Park.

Sunset Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Sunset on saguaros Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaMy previous camp site was taken so I wandered a bit looking for someplace nice with a signal.  It’s all nice but some easier to access parking is rather close to the dusty dirt road.  As it was late afternoon I settled with a place figuring on finding a better location, and signal, the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clouds cactus Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Late light saguaros Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaLucky me, my previous site was vacant so I went back there again.  I spent most of the day sitting in the quiet warm sunshine reading interspersed with soaking in the desert surroundings.  Late afternoon brought huge puffy clouds to the south, golden glow, and yet another colorful sunset.

Reverse sunset Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Sunset Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaThe next day I’d be meeting up with a friend who used to work at the North Rim and is now a backcountry ranger at Aravipa.  She drove down to visit some Utah friends who were also boondocking along Darby Well Road.

Crested organ pipe cactus Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Crested organ pipe cactus Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaWednesday we all met up and it turns out Bill and Emily know my friend Bill, and a few other mutual friends.  So fun.  We took a little walk into the desert west of the road with Bill leading us to an absolutely gorgeous crested organ pipe cactus.  The whole hike was an easy one mile round trip but you do have to crawl under a barbed wire fence onto the mine land for a short way.  Afterwards we hung out in their camp for a while chatting away, no pics of course, then Bill lead me cross country the short way to my camp.  Since then they’ve found another crested organ pipe cactus in the area.

 

 

Sunset glow saguaro Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaNo clouds that night meant a soft pastel sunset that lit up saguaro spines.

Organ pipe cactus & palo verde Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaNot that one

Organ pipe cactus & ocotillo Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaOr that one

Fence & crested organ pipe cactus Darby Well Road Ajo BLM ArizonaCan you see it?

Crested organ pipe cactus Darby Well Road Ajo BLM Arizona                        Crested organ pipe cactus Darby Well Road Ajo BLM Arizona

Thursday I found my way back to the crested with a little variation of the path.  There’s a closed two track off Darby Well Road heading towards the mine’s fence and some cross country where I went one wash too far but eventually saw where I’d go under the fence marked with a piece of yellow plastic to mark the spot.

Darby Well Road Ajo BLM Arizona

Barrel cactus Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Saguaro Darby Well Road Ajo BLM ArizonaFairy Duster flower Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaBeing by myself I took WAY more photos of the crested organ pipe cactus and so much more.  Fruit on a barrel cactus with a fibonacci pattern, dusty pink fairy dusters, many crazy-armed saguaros, a few ocotillo blooms, small pincushion cactus, and never ending creosote bush.

 

 

 

 

 

Truck camper Black Mt Darby Well Road Ajo BLM Arizona

Wash Darby Well Road Ajo BLM ArizonaI also wandered down my road following tire tracks to a pretty big dip in one of the larger washes.  Good reminder with rain probable to park on high ground and not at a dead end beyond a wash.  Believe it or not occasionally a RVer will actually park in a wash and if it does rain could be stuck or swept away.  It happens in the desert to the unwary or newbies.

Developed camp Darby Well Road Ajo BLM ArizonaUnfortunately there is a bit of human litter scattered about like broken glass, rusty cans, bed springs and car pieces.  A group has developed an area along the wash with tables and a BBQ pit.  It seems a nearby saguaro suffers the human recreation of riddling things with bullets.  Maybe those holes offer future nesting sights for the birds like the Gila woodpecker, cactus wren, and elf owl.

Sunset windmill saguaros Darby Well Road BLM Ajo Arizona

Phainopepla mistletoe palo verde Darby Well Road Ajo BLM ArizonaThough I heard bird song I’m rarely quick enough to see let alone photograph many birds.  Except for the distinctive silhouette of the phainopepla in the distance.  It perpetuates its food source by eating the mistletoe berries then defecating the seeds which produce more mistletoe.

Cloudy sunset Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaThankfully I enjoyed a few days of sunshine before the wind blew, and blew, and blew.  Friday saw no rain but heavy clouds seemed to fly over the landscape.  Nature’s song of the day included wind rattling the creosote and palo verdes.  Even the saguaros swayed a little.  I understand it typically takes 60-100mph winds to knock them over.  Bill showed me a down saguaro just down my road that fell several years ago when they were camped nearby.  They didn’t hear it but noticed it missing.  I noticed the camper rock-n-rolling as gusts reached up to 44mph.

Low clouds Black Mountain saguaro Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaWoke up Saturday to gray skies and the wind blew on and off as the rains came.  At first a soft female rain, just what the desert needs to soak into the hard baked soil instead of just running off into washes causing possible floods.  The intensity of rain increased late in the day and through most of the night.  I kept waking up and wondering if I’d float away.

Clouds mountains light shadow Darby Well Road BLM Ajo ArizonaBut come Sunday morning under still gray skies I saw no water at all in the wash and the ground was almost dry already.  The only standing water was puddles in the roads.  So with less chance of rain I packed it up and saw the sun trying to break through as I drove to Ajo for breakfast and supplies before heading back into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument for some hiking Monday with Cynthia.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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