The desert is amazing

The brochure for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument says "Welcome to a Green Desert". It is really beautiful here. We took a long drive today on Puerto Blanco Drive, about 37 miles that took us about 5 hours to drive (not *just* because we were admiring God's creation -- man's creation (the road) was very rough and so we had to take it slow).

I think this is Pincushion cactus

Glad we have the Jeep with 4WD

Ocotillo with leaves and blooms

You may be able to see Dwayne - he is right at the center of the picture - he kinda looks like a shorter Saguaro cactus... but it puts into perspective how big they are!

Along a wash

Beautiful flowers

More flowers!

I took a "panorama" picture with my smart phone from "Dripping Springs"

Along the hike to Dripping Springs

I think there is a Cactus Wren on top of the Organ Pipe Cactus

Blooming Chollo

Close up of Chollo blooms

Another Chollo, this one with yellow blooms

I think this is a blooming Palo Verde tree - we had not seen them blooming before, but on the far west end of our drive, we saw a few.

At the southwestern end of our drive, we detoured a little ways to visit Quitobaquito as recommended by the park ranger. When we got there... we weren't sure what to expect.

There was a barren path with a few bushes that we followed

We were right at the border with traffic on Mexican route 2 just on the other side

Sudden the path led us to this beautiful little pond!

Gorgeous, serene, quiet

My sweetie the camera man!

Flowers at the pond

How can there be a pond like this in the middle of a desert? One of the endangered species that is found in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a pupfish, found in this pond. http://organpipehistory.com/orpi-a-z/pupfish/

The area where we drove had been closed to visitors until just a few months ago due to the death of a park ranger here in conjunction with his pursuit of illegal activity (http://organpipehistory.com/orpi-a-z/kris-eggle/) - but the addition of a 30 mile vehicle barrier and 5.2 mile pedestrian barrier have allowed it to be re-opened. We were glad to be able to experience this!