Arizona Road Trip, 2023 – Joshua Tree, Gila Bend, Ajo, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

March 8-10, 2023

After my night at Black Rock Canyon campground, it was a very short drive to enter Joshua Tree National Park. This park protects a very unique and wonderfully otherworldly landscape of Mojave desert that is punctuated by giant jumbled piles of immense granite boulders and decorated with Joshua trees and other interesting and unusual plants.

I had visited Joshua Tree once before on a day trip from Palm Springs with Brent, Sophie, and Daniel, and I was excited to revisit the park and hike more of its trails. As a former teacher and a lover of natural history, I find it hard to resist nature trails and on the Hidden Valley and Barker Dam trails I read every single interpretive panel about the flora, fauna, geology, and human history of this special place. On the Hidden Valley trail, scattered pinyon pines, juniper, and scrub oaks were tucked into the shelter of giant rock piles. They are relics from a time when this part of the Mojave Desert was much wetter,

while cholla, stag horn and prickly pear cactus, as well as creosote bushes and yucca, dominate the sandy expanses that are fully exposed to the sun.

I spent the hottest part of the afternoon at my wonderful Jumbo Rocks campsite where I made lunch, read for a while, and then had fun exploring the rock piles and scampering up for a great view of the campground below.

In the late afternoon, I did the Split Rock trail which is less-frequented than many of the other trails. It was such a joy to walk alone amongst the jumbled boulders and Joshua trees, and then to end at Split Rock which is at least three or four stories high!

The next morning, I said goodbye to Joshua Tree National Park and exited to the town of Twentynine Palms where I took a short morning walk around the Oasis of Mara nature trail, and then stopped to photograph the picturesque Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.

From there, I headed east on the very quiet and scenic Highway 62. I loved this road and kept stopping to take photo after photo as the landscape unfolded before me and to either side of the highway where the dry sandy expanse was dotted with creosote bushes, dried grasses, and the graceful and delicate flourishes, by the roadside, of dune evening primrose and purple-coloured desert sand verbena.

Empty of habitation and of almost any other vehicles, the road stretched towards distant mountains,

passed through them,

and continued on towards another line of mountains, tinged pink, in the distance.

Beyond those far hills, Highway 62 East met Highway 177, and I turned south to travel another scenic road through more wide and lonely expanses of desert edged with distant mountains. This highway was somewhat busy which helped prepare me for the next turn, east onto Interstate 10, where I had to speed up and be hyper-focused as I drove along with the huge volume of cars and large transport trucks. Barely able to glance at the countryside, I did register some excitement when I crossed over the Colorado River into Arizona and when I saw my first saguaro cacti on hillsides soon thereafter. Hooray! I made a stop in Quartzite, famous among nomads, boon-dockers and vanlifers, where I enjoyed browsing for a few gifts at the huge Gem and Mineral World warehouse. Then, it was back on the I-10 East until, thankfully, I exited that fast and busy freeway to connect with Old Highway 80 south through a now very green world of agricultural fields irrigated by the Gila River. This area has known human habitation and use for thousands of years, and from about 300 to 1200 AD the Hohokam peoples constructed sophisticated canal systems here that irrigated vast fields of cotton, corn, beans and squash.

I continued south on Old Highway 80 and made a stop at the historic Gillespie Dam Bridge that crosses the Gila River. Built in 1927 of steel trusses, it was once the longest bridge in Arizona and from the small pull out at its end there was a view of the long concrete expanse of the Gila dam which was destroyed by a huge flood in 1993.

Soon I reached the town of Gila Bend but I didn’t have time to explore it as the sun was lowering in the sky and I wanted to arrive at my chosen campground before dark so I continued on about 18 miles west, and then up through some hills, to camp at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site and Campground, a deal at only $8 a night. The campsite was on a wide plateau and there was a wonderful timeless feel to this place. I took a walk to loosen up my limbs after my day of driving, cooked up a quick dinner, viewed the ancient petroglyphs in the dying light, and then settled in to watch a lovely sunset and, in the opposite direction, a rising and very bright full moon. It was blissfully quiet as night descended, and I ended my day with a contented sense of peace, comfort, safety and much gratitude.

The next day I awakened just before sunrise. I took a walk in the cool morning air and watched the sky lighten into blue and pink while the full moon descended towards the horizon.

Then, as the sun rose, I went to revisit the petroglyphs. There are hundreds of them here, etched into dark basalt boulders on a granite hill over a time period that spans almost 9000 years, from about 7500 BC to 1450 AD. There were excellent interpretive panels that explained the history and significance of these petroglyphs as well as information about the culture of the peoples who made them.

I walked farther afield in the now bright morning light and photographed my first saguaro cactus as well as several pretty wildflowers (purple Notch-leaved Phacelia and Desert Sunflower), unknowing that I would be blessed with oodles of wildflowers later on this day as well as in the days to come.

I tarried a bit over breakfast, reluctant to leave this beautiful and peaceful place, but I had camping reservations further south so I returned to Gila Bend where I stopped for gas, groceries and ice, and I also had a fun session of strolling the main drag to take photos of this small town that functions as a highway pit stop for travellers and an agricultural entrepôt.

I particularly enjoyed my time at this colourful store and taco shop that was full of imported Mexican handicrafts including brightly painted pottery and whimsical metal sculptures.

Happy with my morning, and ready to move on, I found my way to Highway 85 South, headed for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which is located just north of the Mexican border. It is a place that I have wanted to see for years and years. The drive was beautiful with so many wildflowers lining the highway and carpeting the desert. I stopped again and again to marvel at the swaths of bright yellow bladderpods, blue lupines, and Mexican gold poppies, as well as purple phacelia, heaping mounds of brittle bush with its yellow daisy-like flowers, and elegant orange globemallow. So pretty!

But the wildflowers weren’t the only attraction. The road undulated towards and between craggy hills and mountains that were covered with saguaro, organ pipe, barrel, and cholla cacti, as well as the graceful branches of Ocotillo, and the green of creosote bushes that were sporting both their yellow blooms and their tiny white seed puff balls. It was incredibly and surprisingly green!

Forty miles south of Gila Bend, the highway passed through Ajo, a very picturesque and well-kept town. I photographed the striking Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, built in 1925 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style,

as well as the very elegant Ajo Federated Church, Methodist, built in 1926 in the same style.

Across from the churches was Ajo’s lovely plaza where I visited the town library, browsed briefly through several art galleries and a thrift shop, and then treated myself to a late lunch of tacos at a great little Mexican restaurant. It was a very pleasant stop!

Afterwards, I continued on my journey and was soon driving past huge hills of multi-coloured rock tailings from a giant copper mine that sits just south of town. Beyond that, nature took back the reins and there was more gorgeous scenery to enjoy as I drew closer to and then entered the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which protects 330,000 acres of Sonoran desert ecology. After a quick stop at the Visitors Centre, I arrived at the Twin Peaks campground, settled into my site, and then promptly took to the trails, camera in hand.

The saguaros were all unique and had so much personality, and the organ pipe cacti were beautiful, but my favourite plants had to be the lovely ocotillos with their slender branches and vase-like shapes.

I was ecstatic with so much beauty all around me, and I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be here. The air was warm, with a slight cooling breeze as evening approached, and I was so happy when I spied several cottontails and Gambel’s quail ahead of me on the paths as I walked. Then, as the day neared its end, the sky and the mountains to the east flushed with pink,

as the sun set in the west. What a place!

I had made it to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument!