Organ Pipe Cactus, Cold Nights, and Illegals

Saturday, February 16, 2019


The trip out of Tucson and over to Why, Arizona took us west across the large Tohono O'Odham Reservation. The scenic drive travels through hills with literally thousands of iconic Saguaro cacti. The cacti are named o'odham for a legend of a small child being taken into the earth after his mother neglected him, and sprouting up as a Saguaro cactus. O'odham means both person and Saguaro cactus. The other thing that caught our eye along the mostly straight road, were the many roadside memorials to people who has lost their lives on that road. Not one we'd want to drive at night.

At Why, we stopped for fuel at the Why Not Travel Store. It was a busy place as customers stopped on their way to and from Organ Pipe, and also from Puerto Penasco, or Rocky Point, the resort town in Mexico on the Sea of California. It is only about 60 miles from the park. Once again as we drove the last stretch south to the park, we were hoping we would have no problems getting in. We were last in the park four years ago and the large campground was mostly empty. In 2002? a ranger had been murdered by a drug cartel who had crossed over the border. Parts of the park had just been reopened when we were there, and new law enforcement rangers had been hired. There had been a lot of extra publicity about the virtues of the park since our visit, so we weren't sure what to expect.

Decorative Fountain

The campground has now gone to reservations and was mostly maxed out when we got there. We were told to look for a site with a green tag that said one night and avoid the yellow tags, which meant reserved. We drove around and around the large campground and finally found one or two green labeled tags. Once we snagged a spot, we went online and reserved three more nights in another available site. We would need to move in the morning. Not a big deal considering that there are no hookups in the campground. We basically drove across the driveway.

Organ Pipe campsite

Our campsite "roommate" - a Curved-Bill Thrasher

The view toward Mexico

Bona Fide Organ Pipe Cactus

The campground is lovely with a long range view into wild Mexico. It is a national monument but also designated an International Biosphere area. It has been set aside as the only area in the United States comprising the Sonoran Desert, which has organ pipe cactus. The rain this year has really greened it up and we saw wildflowers that we haven't seen before in the Sonoran Desert. It really is a spectacular park and now that it is considered safe, visitors have returned.

Cholla cacti were fruiting everywhere!

The only real problem we had was that it has been unusually cold in the Southwest this year. The solar panels charge up the battery during the day, and with all the curtains and blinds open, it gets quite warm inside on a sunny day from passive solar heating. At night we button up all the curtains and blinds, but running the propane furnace which uses electricity to power the blower, pulls down the battery fast. We have been bundling up in the evening, and during the night, and running the furnace in the morning to warm it up. As the sun hits the panels, it gives the battery some more energy. Our last morning at Organ Pipe outside it was 31 degrees, and inside it was 35 degrees! Takes us back to our tent camping days!


During our days we took some walks and soaked up the beauty. One day we packed a lunch and drove the 41 mile gravel road that requires a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. It travels through a remote area of the park. We only saw a half-dozen other cars that day. We stopped for lunch at an old mine, and later spent some time hiking around the Quitobaquito Spring area, where tiny pupfish live. This particular fish is only found in a few places, including Death Valley and each isolated group is distinctly different from the others. They survive in extreme environments.

Checking out old mine shafts

Catching a Jumping Cholla before it jumped!

 

Rescue station for desert travelers

 The trail to Quitobaquito Springs

The Quitobaquito Springs pool

Following the springs upstream

The inside of a dead Saguaro

 

Quitobaquito Springs Pupfish - maybe 1-inch long

Mexican Leafcutter Ants at work

The parking area for the spring is right along the border fence with Mexico. After spending the day in the isolated quiet of the park, we were surprised to see Mexico Highway 2 on the other side of the border and watched and heard the noisy semi-trucks and buses whizzing by! We took photos of ourselves at the border fence and then started driving along the last stretch of park road that follows the fences.

The border road and minimal fence

Kathleen at the Border "Wall"

The day was getting long, and as we drove along the border, I commented to Greg that the only evidence of the Border Patrol we had seen in the park was a high camera-truck way north of us that was aimed at the long flat playa running through the park and down into Mexico, and two large blue water tanks with flags to identify them. We guessed that there was an agreement to have a scarce presence in order to allow visitors a more pristine desert wilderness experience. It was a contrast to so many other areas along the border and further inland where the Border Patrol's presence is very obvious.


Just as I finished my comments, we crested a small rise and in front of us were a dozen illegal border crossers and four Border Patrol vehicles and agents. We stopped and waited a short distance away on the gravel road. The journalist in me stirred up and I quickly snapped a few photos, which I decided later not to share. It feels too exploitative. As we watched, a white dog with a box in its mouth, maybe of foodstuffs, walked back across the road toward the border, its protruding breasts and large nipples swinging as if it has recently had puppies. A little boy followed her, his parents too frightened of the agents to go after him. He was too young to understand what was happening. We watched for a few minutes until the agents saw us and motioned us to pass. Greg slowly drove us past and we noticed that it appeared to be young parents with a few small children and the rest were young enough to be unaccompanied minors, mostly boys. The parents looked at us as we passed. I could look into their eyes. There was fear and uncertainty. No one in the group was dressed for the unseasonably cold weather and nightfall was coming. It tore at my heart to see the mother's face and not know where she was coming from, and what circumstances had driven her to risk this illegal entry for her children.


It haunts me that I will never know what happened to that group. I pray that the family wasn't separated. Were the youth that were alone sent to Tornillo, the huge tent city for teens? We drove past the town in West Texas earlier in our trip traveling along I-10, and strained to see the tents so close to the border, but couldn't. I thought about them all evening. I woke up dreaming of border crossers that night. I, a white woman of privilege, will never know the circumstances that would drive a mother to risk or the courage it takes, to act upon that decision. I had the luck of being born in this country, she didn't. We watch so much media coverage of the situation at our southern border, and at times we begin to feel numb to it. I've imagined that traveling in the Southwest might expose us to the people we see on television. There are certainly plenty of warning signs to be aware of smugglers, but after seeing so many, you ignore the signs. I never expected to come face to face with the very people we had been warned about. I never expected to look into a strange mother's eyes and connect with that universal need to protect our children.


We drove on, and passed a large van coming to scoop them up. “At least they'll be indoors tonight”, I consoled myself. Greg and I were silent most of the way back to camp.