For a brief respite from winter this year, I flew down to Tucson, rented a car, and drove a couple hours west to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It's one of the only pieces of public land I know of in the Southwest with good camping and hiking, and at low enough elevation to be comfortable in December. The campground is just a few miles from the Mexican border. Typical daytime temperatures were around 20 C (68 F), going down to around 5 C (40 F) at night. Not exactly tropical, but a lot warmer than Wisconsin this time of year. It's very uncrowded, as the crowds don't arrive until after Christmas.
Campsite, Mexican Mountains |
There were several ham radio operating events scheduled for Wednesday, so I set up my 11 meter fishing pole to hold up the antenna and made a few contacts with the small radio I had brought along.
Fishing Pole Antenna Support |
The next day, storms moved in from the Pacific, so I made good use of that shelter.
Rainbow |
After a wet night, I had a fairly dry day. In the evening, however, some serious thunderstorms appeared, but passed just a few miles south and east of the campsite. Somebody got a serious soaking, but I just got pictures.
Storm in the Desert |
Moon, Earthglow, and Saturn |
On my hike over to the abandoned mine near the campground, I came upon this gigantic saguaro, probably a good 15 meters tall. When I hiked back to get some pictures, the light wasn't great, but it's still pretty impressive. It looks like the one in the background has had a tough life.
Huge Saguaro |
Off a ways to the east are the Ajo Mountains, where there's a nice hiking trail of about 10 km. The scenery there is more interesting than the fairly flat desert terrain near the campground. It's also a bit more work, with a 300 meter climb.
Bull Pasture and Estes Canyon Trail Profiles |
Despite the season, the wet weather seems to have brought out a few flowers. On sunny days, I could often hear the quiet buzzing of thousands of bees.
Desert Flowers |
The scenery gets more interesting as the trail climbs.
On the Trail to Bull Pasture |
Still on the Trail |
Bull Pasture |
The View to the South |
Bull Pasture Coordinates |
The trail ends overlooking Bull Pasture. The route back follows the same trail to a junction, then makes a loop by way of Estes Canyon. A very nice hike. I saw no one else on the trail, despite beautiful weather.
That evening, the sunset was really spectacular, with a great view right from my campsite.
Desert Sunset |
My last day was another Wednesday, so I set up the radio station one more time. This time I set up a sun shade to make it a little easier to see the displays. There was a bit of a breeze, but the fishing pole stayed up long enough.
Radio Station |
Fishing Pole Back Up |
With Sun Shade |
The last morning, I packed everything up, gave the rest of my stove fuel to some other campers, and drove back to Tucson in plenty of time to catch my 2:45 flight. Back to winter!