Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus at Organ Pipe Cactus NM

Organ Pipes at Organ Pipe Cactus NM

Journal Entry:

8:50 am. 74˚ F, windy, gusting to 30 mph. Sunny, no clouds, but dusty in the distance–the faraway mountains that I usually see in detail are obscured in a dust cloud.

I am quite fond of the organ pipe cactus. It doesn’t really live in this part of the Sonoran Desert, it has been planted by the Desert Museum staff. Before I go back to Wisconsin, I want to make one more trip Organ Pipe Land, to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, nearly three hours west of Tucson.

Organ Pipe — this one has 14 arms. Are they called arms? Most of them come straight from the ground. Two arms on this plant have split–like twins–and have a V-shape at the top.

18 feet–tallest. 8 inches–shortest.

I wonder what makes the girth of the cactus pull in–like a cord was tightened around its circumference and then removed, leaving an indentation. It’s a handsome specimen with lots of strictures. I like its shape. It is more interesting, the changes. Wouldn’t be as visually appealling if each arm was perfectly smooth, all the way from bottom to the very tip.

Just like people. The prim and proper aren’t nearly as interesting as those who don’t insist on showing the world only their perfect selves. It seems the more mistakes one makes, the more chances, risks that person has taken, the more they have learned.

Mistakes = trying over and over until the problem is solved, the project is finished.

Sometimes a mistake is apparent–this organ pipe had a virus and one of its ends is malformed, bulbous, some might say it is ugly, but I think its curves and bubbled surfaces are distinctive. It doesn’t lessen the worth of the organ pipe in my eyes. It gives me something more to study, to contemplate. It’s like a bit of decoration on the cactus plant.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”

Lessons from an Organ Pipe Cactus

Organ Pipe At Desert Museum

Organ Pipe Cactus © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes I get so frustrated with carrying out my grand plans, I wish I could perform magic. I wish for a magic wand or a magic trick, when in actuality, all I need to do is do the work until the project is completed. Do the work? Does that mean I have to write all the steps down on a to-do list and then grind my way through each step until the project is completed?

Well, the bad news is, yes. Sometimes that is exactly what is required.

But there’s good news, too. Sometimes the plan requires walking down new paths, thinking new thoughts, exploring, questioning. All the while muttering, like Alice once did, “Curiouser and curiouser!”

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I went to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum early this morning. They open at 7:30 am which I think is a perfect time for an outdoor museum to open, especially one located in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. I can spend a couple of hours exploring the desert and taking photos, then spend a half hour writing in my nature journal while sipping a raspberry ice tea, and I pull my car out of the parking lot as the Sunday crowd is waiting in line to get in.

I spent quite a lot of time studying the plants, walking a while, then stopping again, taking my sweet time. Twice, I had a museum docent question me. The first gentleman asked me if I was OK. (I was. Yes, indeed. More than OK–I was feeling great.)  The second docent asked me if I was looking for something special. Well, I was looking for something special, but I didn’t say so because I didn’t know what I was looking for–and I didn’t, until I saw it.

Mostly, I was looking for new growth. For a sign of spring (what I, as a Midwestern, thinks of as spring) on this first day of spring. You would expect to see all kinds of growing things in the desert in spring, but it doesn’t work like that. It has only rained once since I arrived in Arizona on February 7th and then it was only a sprinkle. So there is much that is dry in the desert, and not much evidence of new growth.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”

Cactus, Cactus, Everywhere – Exporing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Ajo Mountain Scenic Road

Ajo Mountain Scenic Road @ 2011 Bo Mackison

One of the best ways to explore a large portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is to do so on the loop road. Not usually my favorite way to see a national park, but in this case, it was certainly an efficient way to see various habitats of the park while taking advantage of the protection and speed of my car. Less wear and tear on my body, and I didn’t get lost once! Of course, it IS a loop…

The 21 mile Ajo Mountain Scenic Road winds from desert floor, ascends through the Ajo Mountain Range, and then returns to the desert floor. The beginning is partly paved, but once it reaches higher elevations and tight passes, the road becomes rocky and bumpy, a bit of an adventure ride. And I have to say, I have seen National Parks and Monuments in the 48 lower states, and I think this 20 mile length of road rivals almost any other road, National Park or not, for its breathtaking beauty. I think it must be in my top five favorites.

Organ Pipe and Palo Verde

Organ Pipe and Palo Verde © 2011 Bo Mackison

The organ pipe cactus is much like it s cousin, the saguaro. Both large cacti grow near a nurse tree, often a palo verde, as shown in this photograph. A bird, while sitting in a tree, makes a deposit under the tree which includes the seeds of cactus. The tree provides protection from the harsh sun, carnivores and water from the nurse tree as it indirectly waters the seedling cactus. If it isn’t eaten, frost-bitten, or scorched to death, it may make it. Cacti have the best chance of making it past the first few years of growth if the weather is milder and wetter than average.

These conditions happen only a few times in a century in the Arizona Uplands where Organ Pipe National Monument is located. That is why there are only a few sizes/ages of cactus in a any given area. The lucky cacti that make it to the height of three feet–40 years worth of growth–are quite resistant to weather extremes and animal damage, and have much lower mortality rates than the younger cacti.

Organ Pipe NM

“Good Housekeeping” Desert © 2011 Bo Mackison

This region of the Sonoran Desert seems much less cluttered than the desert I hiked in a few days ago, the western unit of Saguaro National Park. There everything was a jumble of clutter. Here, it looks like the maids have come through, preparing for an inspection from the “Good Housekeeping” desert spirit.

Organ Pipe Cactus

Organ Pipe Cactus © 2011 Bo Mackison

Organ pipes are easily distinguished from the saguaro, and the other large, but less common cactus, the senita. (No photos of the senita yet, but I’ll keep looking.) Organ pipes have arms that rise from ground level, their stems are often thinner, and they do not sprout projecting arms.

They are uncommon in the United States–found only in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the adjacent Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation located in south central Arizona. This is the most northern habitat for these plants. They are common in the Sonora, Mexico to the south. At that most southern part of the Sonoran desert, these cacti grow with such density, they appear as a sea of organ pipes. Now that is something I would love to see!

Southern Mountain Side--Cactus Habitat

Southern Mountain Side–Cactus Habitat © 2011 Bo Mackison

Organ pipes are usually found on south facing, rocky mountain sides. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the south exposures are one of the warmest micro-habitats in the United States. The cacti typically grow about 10 feet high, though occasionally they can be seen twice that height. Their flowers are white, and bloom at night from April through August. They open in the dark and close shortly after sunrise. That would be something to see, too.

In the photograph above, the organ pipes are joined by the fuzzy Teddy Bear Cholla, a few palo verde trees, and creosote bushes.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  She is finding the desert habitat more and more to her liking. She is also finding that a solitary life comes with unexpected gifts, too.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Squiggly Organ Pipe Cactus

Squiggly Organ Pipe Cactus © 2011 Bo Mackison

One of my goals during my time in Arizona was to take an all day trip to a place I’d never been, to a place that was at least 150 miles from home base in Tucson. I knew this would be a challenge when I added that goal to my list. At the time, I wasn’t fond of driving and I worried about getting lost.

In the three weeks I’ve been in Tucson, I’ve gotten much better at driving and I’ve been going to lots of new places. Today’s weather was perfect for a drive, so it seemed a good time to get on the road and visit a place I had on my list–Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona.

Considering I left before sunrise this morning and I returned home just as the sun was setting — well, my brain is too tired to say all the spectacular things I’ll want to say when I am more awake. So I’ll post just one photograph for now — I promise there will be many more. I loved this park.

Isn’t this Organ Pipe Cactus against that cloud-streaked Arizona sky a thing of beauty?

(Though I might call this particular specimen an Octopus Cactus! The ones I’ll post tomorrow are better examples of why they are called Organ Pipes, but this one has a lot of character!)

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  She spent the day driving and is going to bed early. More photographs from Organ Pipe NM tomorrow.

Organ Pipe Cactus

Sonoran Desert

in the Sonoran Desert

The Organ Pipe Cactus is one of the giant cacti, second in size only to the more iconic Saguaro. Instead of having a single trunk with branches, the organ pipe has 6 to 20 stems all growing from a central trunk. It will typically grow about 15 feet tall, though specimens have measured more than 20 feet in height.

Its habitat is limited to Sonora and Baja California, Mexico, and southwestern Arizona. In the United States, the largest number are found in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument located near the Mexico/Arizona border.