Very near the Mexico/Arizona border is a National Monument formed to protect the only place where Organ Pipe Cactus grow in the US. They like a desert with a predictable rainy season and no freezing temperatures. They are more common in Mexico and grow larger there with this protected park being their northern-most range. The border town of Lukeville is just four miles south of our campground.

Campground

There are two official campgrounds within the park, the small undeveloped Alamo Canyon camp and the much larger Twin Peaks camp that doesn’t have hook-ups, but does feature small bathrooms with flush toilets and showers. This time of year the showers are cold, at least after sunset when we used them, but the solar power can make them scalding hot at times, according to the warning signs. We’ll take cold over burning hot when they feature a push button with no controls for the temperature.

The Twin Peaks campground has generator-allowed areas. We are in the quiet area, and after staying in Tucson for a month, it is delightfully quiet here – no trains, planes or automobiles at night. The campsites have natural areas between them and we are parked on concrete with a large picnic table – very nice! There are lots of vans with us here.

Hiking Trails

From our campsite, we took our first hike out to Victoria Mine for a 4.5-mile round trip.

The desert environment has saguaro, cholla (mostly teddybear and chainfruit), ocotillo, some organ pipes and lots of creosote, mesquite and salt bush for scrubby small trees. The rocks are basalt, but look like smoother red sandstone with some olivine thrown in for a green shade amongst the red and brown.

We came across a mine that was active from the 1880s through the 1910s, but operations didn’t cease until 1976. Some openings looked pretty modern.

For our next hike, on day two, we took a drive on the scenic Puerto Blanco Drive to the Red Tanks Tenaja trail head. At the red tanks, we talked with a couple from Washington state and they gave us some ideas for a summer trip to the NW. We hiked on to the Baker Mine which was a gold and silver mine active in the early twentieth century. Most of this hike followed an old mining road and there were hillsides where organ pipes were the most common cactus to be seen.

Our final hike was in the Alamo Canyon where we saw a historic ranch house and corral. We parked at the Alamo Canyon Campground after driving in on a bumpy dirt road. The rocks here are more clearly volcanic rhyolite and andesite. As you hike around the boulders that have tumbled down from the mountains surrounding the canyon, you can’t help but wonder about the racket they make coming down and at the same time, think “not today, please.”

We did have temperatures in the 80s and sunny days while here which means 90s in the van with windows open and fans running. Surprisingly, it was comfortable with the humidity under 20%. We ran the a/c for the cats when hiking, but conserved power otherwise. And sunset brought much cooler temperatures. We could return and cover new ground with more hikes to look forward to. What a beautiful park!