I write about it all the time and you know, if you've been following this blog for awhile, that I am a regular at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  I hope you have a place that fills your heart the way Organ Pipe fills mine. 

I'm not going to bore you with too much narration on this post - if you haven't been to Southwestern Arizona and you're ever interested in going let's talk... It was nice to go when it was warmer and quieter this year in April. I was on the lookout for snakes and scorpions and the mythical Gila Monster...but, alas, I saw none...

Let's get on with the photos.  With this post I'll do things a bit differently than previous posts - since I focused, to a large degree, on black and white images for this trip, we'll start there.  These photos are from the first few days in Sonoran Desert heaven. The ruins at the bottom are from the Victoria Mine site.

The next series of photos are from the Ajo Mountain Drive and Puerto Blanco Road which includes photos of Bonita Well and Quitobaquito Springs as well as the trappings of the US Border Patrol. Perhaps, one day I'll devote an entire post to my interactions with the Border patrol since I'm often along the border in Arizona and New Mexico and see them regularly.  

The next photos are from the Desert Walk near the Twin Peaks campground on my last day. The photo at the bottom - with the early morning sun on a saguaro - is my favorite B&W of the trip.

Let's move on to color.  For those of us growing up around the Mojave the Sonoran Desert always surprises us with its color. This year- after all the rain - and going in April was marvelous. 

There is an oasis out there called Quitobaquito Springs home to the Quitobaquito (Sonoyta) Pupfish.  I cherish it.  Here is an afternoon panorama and other images.  

I hope you enjoyed coming along.  Catch ya down the road...

This was written prior to the decision, along with Syria and Nicaragua (who thinks the accord isn't enough), to drop out of the Paris accords regarding Climate Change.  Multiply my comments by several factors...

The photos above are from Mojave Trails National Monument.  

An online friend of mine R. Scott Jones suggested that us "nature and public land lovers" write a blog about the federal government's attack on our public lands.  I think it's a wonderful idea.

I started to write a long editorial essay regarding the Trump administration's "review" of our magnificent National Monuments and I wrote 6 pages of angry vitriol.   The more I wrote the angrier I became.   I made a list of the National Monuments I have visited.  I made another list of the lies coming from Washington DC.  I got ready to publish it and had second thoughts.  

I got depressed and sad as I thought about the world we're leaving for my grandchildren and their children.   I started writing again and will try to offer a simpler message.  I  want to convey, without bitterness, the beauty of the public lands and how much is at stake if we lose them.  I'm in love with what's left of the West and our National Monuments, National Parks, Wildlife Reserves, and ALL public land that WE own and that our descendants deserve to enjoy.  I want to come from a place of love...not hate.

My opinions on the decimation of the West are found, right here, on this website.  If you want a more complete description of exactly what's happening this is an excellent article.

My hunch is that venting my anger is not a productive exercise for those of you who follow this blog.   I only hope you will condemn and resist the development of our public lands in general and our National Monuments in particular. Please join us in doing all we can to halt the destruction of our land.

As Edward Abbey said, 

"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders".

Consider me an ardent defender.  By any measure it's easy to see that our wild lands are being paved over, mined, drilled and ultimately destroyed.  It is one of the great heartbreaks of my life.  

My words fail.  I am too emotional to be very articulate.  Instead, I offer more photos of one of my favorite National Monuments, Organ Pipe Cactus in southern Arizona.  Please visit a National Monument if you can.  I promise, if you do, you'll want to stop the madness of this "review".  

I hope you'll agree that these lands deserve saving.  Contact your representatives by mail, email, or phone.  Join one of the groups that advocate for the outdoors and our precious public lands.  Fight for beauty and nature- it's a battle worth waging. 

There was a popular song, written in 1927, called "My Blue Heaven", that my mother would sing to me as a child.  Maybe you've heard it.  One of the lyrics went:

​"Whippoorwills call, evenin' is nigh
Hurry to my Blue Heaven and a little nest nestled where the roses bloom.  Just Molly and me and the baby makes three."

The song is filled with imagery and I pictured it in my mind's eye as a young boy.  The words and my Mom's pretty voice soothed me and I remember asking her  (she would have been 80 today) to sing it over and over again.  I hadn't thought of this song for many, many years but on this latest trip to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument the song jumped into my head and the words naturally changed to my green heaven.  The last several years now I have traveled extensively in the West and I've seen magnificent places but there is no place on earth that I feel more at home or connected to than Organ Pipe.   The air itself is different.  The earth feels differently below my feet. Edward Abbey served as a Park Ranger there and he loved the area too calling adjacent Cabeza Prieta the "finest desert wilderness in North America" and said this:

Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet always and everywhere present, the desert lures a man on and on, from the red-walled canyon to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure which the desert seems to promise. Once caught by this golden lure you become a prospector for life. -

Cactus Ed was right.  I'm a "prospector" for what remains of my life.

The Sonoran desert is very different than other deserts in North America.  Since there are five seasons; winter, spring, summer, monsoon, and autumn, and two of those can see quite a bit of rain (winter and monsoon) the desert is truly alive.  The last few years I've experienced some rain during January visits to the Monument and the beauty and smell of that experience is indescribable.  On this  trip it was warm and sunny which made for poor photographic opportunities but maximum recreation and relaxation.

Another thing about this trip - I turned 60 recently and this damn birthday stimulated more than a few hours of introspection and reflection.  As I look back I have many beautiful memories but I have also endured my share of pain: losing my parents to cancer and Alzheimer's too early, I was diagnosed with glaucoma at an unusually early age with all that entails, I faced appalling and dishonest injustice instigated and condoned by people I liked and trusted, I've lost several dear friends to death, suicide and the vagaries of time. Of course, I also extensively pondered all of my own terrible mistakes and sins which are too numerous and odious to count.  

​While contemplating it became clear to me that while life has been, at times, profoundly joyful and fulfilling it has also been deeply sorrowful and painful and often seemed impossible to endure. But, endure I have. I know I've been foolish on occasion but I've gained some wisdom and I've hung on even when experiencing abject hopelessness.  It seems clear that I am, if nothing else, resilient, and so it is with the desert.  I love the sea and the mountains but, as I get older, and come to terms with my own mortality, my respect and affection for the desert grows more deeply every year.  Life is hard, for sure, but the cacti, the creosote, the bobcat, the roadrunner and the lizard thrive against the odds in an often harsh and exposed existence.  The resilient Sonoran desert not only gives me solace it inspires me to live my own life more fully and with fewer complaints.  Wherever I go  it will always remain my own true home. 

Remarkably, in this desert milieu live 850 plants and animals.  Barren, brown desert?  Not by a long shot. An example is the ocotillo (or coachwhip or candlewood).  Talk about resilient.  The ocotillo looks like an unassuming pile of dead sticks for much of the year.  Then, if and when it rains, it becomes a brilliant green.  It is a glorious transformation.

It is a long drive (9 hours) out to Organ Pipe for me.  I determined to simply relax and meditate on my first day.  Perhaps I'd just hang around the campsite in the sun and maybe go for a short hike around the campground.  When I woke up I had far too much energy for such sedentary activities.  I jumped in the truck and drove to Ajo.  I got my permit to travel in the Cabeza Prieta and Barry Goldwater Range and chatted with the BLM folks.  I then decided to drive into the Cabeza Prieta and come back to camp via the Bates Well Road and Pozo Nuevo in Organ Pipe.  The weather was warm and I drove with the windows wide open.  I stopped and talked to whoever was around (except the Border Patrol who were parked in too many places).  I met some eccentric and intrepid travelers out there.  The desert does attract us oddballs.  My people...

In the middle of the day my old bones began to tire after two days of solid driving and several hours of being jostled on rutted and rocky dirt roads.  I arrived at Bates Ranch in the northern portion of Organ Pipe Monument and took a few photos.   If you find Bates Ranch as interesting as I do you can read more about its' history here.  Despite being in the boundaries of a National Monument the ranch didn't actually stop operation until 1976.  There is something about old West ranches that seems to ask for black and white photos.

I also made some color photos of this fascinating place. 

The next few days I did get some of that sweet relaxation in.  For the first time in many years I did not drive out to Quito Baquito but went on several short hikes in the Monument.  I found some small hills to climb and meditate on.  I studied the scenery.  I sat in the slim shade of Saguaro and Senita cactus.  I ate snacks in the cholla gardens.  I stopped worrying.  I listened to the crying coyotes each night.   I made a few photographs but it was not a priority.  I chatted with my campground neighbors.  I relaxed out of my separation from the land. I visited with the Park Rangers. I slowed down. I heard the cactus wren and the ravens. I experienced each moment as fully as I could.  I had a damn fine time. 

I saved, for the last day, a late afternoon and twilight drive through the Ajo Mountains.   I rolled down the windows and crept along the road.  A  desert breeze blew through the cab of the truck. I occasionally stopped and got out  to take photos and take short walks.  I immersed myself in the desert.  I thought of my children and wished they were with me. As I neared the end of the drive I started missing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and I hadn't left it yet.  

I'd apologize for the mawkish tone of this trip review but it wouldn't be sincere.  I may wax tritely and in cliche riddled phrases but I'm at a loss to describe my love for the Sonoran Desert and if it sounds maudlin so be it.  If you do get a feeling for my love of the place then I'm pleased. I encourage you to read Abbey, Bowden,  and Krutch.  They get closer to doing this slice of "green  desert heaven" more justice than I ever will.  

I count the days until my next visit.  Thanks for coming along. 

This last photo of dancing Saguaros is one that I enjoy.  May you all be healthy, happy, safe and at ease.  Until next time...

On Twitter it's apparent that reviewing one's photos for the year is all the rage.  I consider myself a non-conformist but I kind of like the idea. This is true even if the exercise is nothing more than an oppportunity to review my travels and tribulations for the last 12 months.  For me, it's easy to do that and one of the reasons that I started this website.  I enjoy sharing the beauty of the West and looking at my photos will be an enjoyable activity.  I am not, however, inclined to pick my "favorite" 12 photos.  While ranking is cool I think that activity might make my head explode.  Maybe next year...

This was my first year traveling with my little travel trailer, a fiberglass egg, called, "El Correcaminos".  It is quite different than sleeping in a tent or the back of my truck.  In fact, it's so dang convenient that the first few months I traveled with it I'd get in the cozy little space and just want to stay there.  This rather defeats the idea of getting a trailer which is to enjoy the great outdoors.  I suppose it's natural though, when in a safe cocoon, to want to stay there.  However, get out we did!  

Here are my some of my favorite photos from my trips this year.  I started the year using JPEG and a Nikon D3300, editing using the Nikon software, and finished the year making RAW images with a Nikon D750 and editing them in Lightroom.  

The first photos are from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last January. 

For my birthday, the last one of my FIFTIES, Lupe and I took Banjo to Point Mugu. 

My next stop in the little trailer was Death Valley.  I'd been there before but never during a "super bloom" or for so long.  It was a good trip. 

In March I visited my Bay Area family.  The last 6 years have been challenging for me in many ways but Lisa, Kara and Steve have always been there for me.  How I love them...  The photo below is of Lisa, Kara and their Dad, Jack.  Jack is maybe, just maybe, the coolest guy I've ever known. 

In March Lupe and I went to Arizona.  We spent time in the Superstitions and out at Organ Pipe.  We had a wonderful time.  Lupe is the perfect traveling partner. 

In late March Banjo and I spent a few days at the other-worldly Red Rock Canyon north of Los Angeles.  It's a really cool place and reminded me of Utah or Abiquiu, NM. 

In April, I headed out to Utah.  I was able to spend time at Zion, Bryce, Escalante State Park and Kodachrome State Park.  Magnificent. 

In May I spent some time in Joshua Tree and at San Onofre Beach. 

In June I was able to visit the newest National Park, Pinnacles, with my remarkable daughter Lilly and her friend Kennedy.  Pinnacles is becoming a favorite as it is (relatively) uncrowded and sits in the heart of the scenic part of Central California.  I'll be back next March for some spring photography in "Steinbeck Country". 

Lupe and I had to forego a planned trip to Glacier but we managed to spend a wonderful week in Lassen Volcanic National Park.  When we returned we decided to establish an annual family and friends trip up there and 2017 will be our inaugural event.  

In August my friend Marty and I spent a week at Gaviota State Beach and on the Central Coast of California north of Santa Barbara. 

The next "big trip" I took was way up the Northern California coast to Redwoods National Park and then I spent another few days near Brookings, Oregon at Harris Beach State Park

In October I visited my thoughtful and smart and long lost friend Eric Flaherty and took a short trip to Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona. 

In November I visited the wonderful Mojave.  I love it out there...

In December I took a very short trip to a local campground, Casper's Wilderness Park, and my truck began to have mechanical problems.  I had to cancel my Anza Borrego trip and deal with having the truck in the shop 3 times in a two week period.  Since I was convinced that my troubles with the truck were only beginning we bought a new Toyota Tacoma which will bring less worry to my travels in the next couple of years.

This, then, wraps up my short review of the year's travels.  I'm hard at work planning for 2017.  I do hope each of you who read this have a magnificent holiday season and that next year is one of the best of your lives.  

I recently returned from a gorgeous 3 days out in "Sonoran Heaven"- Organ Pipe Cactus National Park.  Please look at the pictures under "Trip Reviews" and enjoy.  I'm planning on heading out there again February when the wildflowers should be "popping"- especially with the recent rains down there.  I can't tell you how much I love this place.  I've been traveling there often since my first glimpse of this marvelous place in 1992.

Hi friends,  it's been a while since I posted due to a number of reasons.  First, my health hasn't been the best and includes an abscessed tooth which I'm having a root canal performed on next week.  Then, my computer has been barely working, or at the computer repair shop, or not working at all.  Its a pain in the butt to update from my phone (my iPod with 16000 songs also died- technology makes our lives so much easier, right?).  I'll be returning this machine to the shop next week because, anytime now, it will freeze again.  

Speaking of freezing it's been frigid around here and the snow level dropped to about 1400 feet blanketing the local hills in snow- a rare but welcome event.  It did add a bit to the "holiday cheer" (is that an oxymoron?).  We did make it through another round of the "Holiday Madness".  I could go on and on regarding how much materialism repels me but I'll save that for another day when my tooth isn't hurting making me grumpier than usual.  Time with my family is always the highlight and I did get some quality time in with my daughter and the new grand kids- Joaquin and Finley- precious angels both. What a remarkable gift they are.

My travel has been limited by the same issues I mention above but I'm bound and determined to get out to Organ Pipe this month.  I'll look forward to sharing pictures and stories.  

I do sincerely hope that 2015 is a banner year for you.  I also hope it's a year filled with more kindness, justice and peace for all of us.  

I can't wait to start feeling better and head for Cactus Country.  

Peace.

Happy Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos.   I recently returned from a fine little desert trip (it's that time of the year again- Hallelujah) and you will find the recap under Trip Reviews.  I decided, a couple weeks ago, to stay close to home and be on "baby watch" as my twin grandchildren are due soon.  This trip was close enough that I felt comfortable going.  It's a little over two hours away from our home.  

My travel will now be limited until the blessings of the new additions arrive. To celebrate their impending arrival I'll be heading to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in December.  The wife and I are planning to scout some potential final retirement areas in which to live in the next several months in addition to my planned trips.  Next year is starting to shape up quite well and I'm excited about that and my new grand-kids!  

Now, I'm off to meditate and, later, to practice guitar with my fat fingers or, as we call them in Spanish, "dedos gordos".

Peace. 

I've been home almost a week and, funny enough, I'm itching to get back on the road.  I know that the good weather months are dwindling and that soon it will be cold- my traveling and camping nemesis.  I have a trip planned to Utah in less than two weeks and then the wait for the twins begins in earnest and I'll probably stay pretty close to home.  

One of the most enjoyable activities  of the winter months is planning the next year's travel.  So far, I plan on two trips to Organ Pipe NM this winter.  After 11 long years the monument is now fully open again which is exciting to say the least.  I can now explore some places I've been itching to see for awhile but were closed due to the US Border Patrol's activities.  

Have you read, "The Devil's Highway" by Luis Urrea? The setting is Organ Pipe- it's a tragic story and my views on immigration were only solidified by reading it.  I know it's a complex issue but we MUST find a more humane way of dealing with those desperately poor people from Mexico who simply want a better life in the USA (as did all our relatives- except the indigenous).  I have lots of deeply passionate thoughts about these issues and, perhaps, in future, I'll devote an entire blog to what I believe the problems are (and there are many - starting with the government of Mexico and US policy) and how we might go about creating a better world for our brothers and sisters from the south.   If you have an interest in these matters please read Urrea, or "Border Patrol Nation" by Todd Miller.  Or read anything that Charles Bowden has written on the Border problems. 

If you know me, at all, you know I love all things Southwest- by extension- I love Mexico and the Mexican culture.  It's everywhere you go in the Southwest and it's one of the major reasons I love it here.  

Back to my plans for next year- so Organ Pipe is on big time.  I'm also going to spend some time at Anza Borrego near Little Blair Valley doing some boondocking near a dry lake bed.  Last year when I was there I was mesmerized by the solitude and stark beauty of the place.  The problem was that it's at 3000 feet elevation, it was during a cold snap, and when I awoke it was 21 degrees F. WAY too cold.  This fall/winter I'm hoping to go when it's a bit warmer.  Of course, I'll also figure out a time to go to my beloved Joshua Tree NP.

In March I'm heading to Big Bend National Park in Southern Texas along the mighty Rio Grande.  This is a trip that I've been wanting to do since my 20's and I'm finally going to make it happen.  That trip will include stops in Arizona and New Mexico and may include a stop at Palo Duro Canyon and Guadalupe NP. April is a wonderful month to explore the coastal mountains near Santa Barbara and Big Sur and I'll backpack then.  I love to travel in May because the weather is warming and the crowds are at a minimum.  I will probably be in Taos and Santa Fe then.  In June I'll head to the Sierras again.  July is "Lupe and Lilly time" and we are still in the process of deciding.  I'm considering two options for August - either Flathead Lake and Glacier NP in Montana or a Northern Cascades trip in Washington. 

This last trip was really spectacular and I'm strongly considering heading back to the Four Corners in Utah and Colorado in September.  I'm still, as I sit here at home, staggered by the scenery I saw in Colorado on this last trip.

My next trip, leaving on October 6, includes a visit with my very best friend from high school, Kevin D. , and still one of the best people I've ever known (or ever will know).  He went to college in Utah and then got a job there and so our visits have been sporadic (at best) over the years.  I'm hoping that changes in the next few years as we both move into the retirement phase of our lives.  As I told him recently- one of us is still working (him) and one of us is a hobo (me) so his schedule will dictate things for awhile.  Luckily he's free on the weekend of Oct. 11 and I get to hang with him on this trip.  Knowing Kev he's explored most of that beautiful country up there and I'll be the beneficiary of his knowledge.

Here's my Utah tentative itinerary:

10/6 Navajo National Monument
10/7 Arches NP
10/8 Arches NP
10/9 Arches NP
10/10 Canyonlands NP
10/11 Visiting with Kevin near Vernal, UT
10/12 Goblin SP
10/13 Goblin SP
10/14 Capitol Reef NP
10/15 Kodachrome SP
10/16 Home

Looks amazing doesn't it?  Arches NP remains my favorite.  Before I read Ed Abbey I visited it and had an OBE (out of body experience)- after I read, "Desert Solitaire" I understood why.  I probably feel more "at home" in Arches than any other place on earth. There is no place like the Red Rock Country of the Colorado Plateau.  Being there fulfills my heart's desire.  I'll look forward to sharing pictures on my return as always.  

Thanks for reading this.   I hope all is well in your life and that you too are planning your next adventure.  I'll look forward to writing again soon and sharing about another one of my new passions- playing guitar.

Peace.