March 28 quick update

We have traveled through southen California and into Nevada since the last posting and we'll add some pictures of those areas in a while. This post shows some of the landscape where we spent the last three days, at Valley of Fires State Park, just north east of Las Vegas. The scenery and hiking there is spectacular. We are slowly working our way north and home over the next 10 days.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

South-west of Tucson, against the Mexican border is the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (another park where dogs are not permitted on trails).  On our way there we went through the small village of Why and got diesel at the Why-Not Garage.

We spent a couple of days in the park doing driving tours on some of the dirt roads.  Of course we saw many cacti (we have thousands of cactus pictures!).

Organ Pipe Cactus

This Organ Pipe cactus has a crest growth on one of the new arms

Crested Organ Pipe Cactus

A very prickly looking cactus

This is called a Darning Needle Cholla

Brittlebush blooming in the foreground

A double arch visible from one of the roads

Our last day in Arizona was spent driving from the Organ Pipe Cactus Monument to Yuma.  On the way we visited the Painted Rocks Archaeological site near Gila Bend, AZ.  There was a primitive campground there but it was so hot that day we decided to drive on in air conditioned comfort and stop in Yuma for the night.

Rock art near Gila Bend

Saguaro National Park

Saguaro National Park has two sections, one east of Tucson, and one west.  We did driving tours of both, as they don't allow dogs to go on the trails.  This was a common problem for us as we visited American National Parks.

In Saguaro West there was a picnic area with a group of aboriginal petroglyphs.

Evanna with barrel cactus

Saguaro with crested top

Prickly Pear cactus

Ocotillo just beginning to leaf

Ocotillo is not a cactus in spite of its long thorns, it is a member of the candlestick family.

Around Tucson

We stayed around the southern part of Arizona for a week or so. We traveled through Bisbee, near the Mexican border, where mining was the main economic activity.

huge open pit former Copper mine at Bisbee, AZ

We stayed a few days in Patagonia State Park, just north of Nogales, Mexico.

Hiking in Patagonia State Park

Barrel Cactus with fruit

View of the mountains on our hike

Rock-hounding - Sune has his backpack to help carry water and rocks

An old style gas station where we bought propane - interesting name!

Next we went to Catalina State Park just north of Tucson.  We found many huge saguaro cactus with multiple arms there.

Moon rise over the Catalina Mountains

Palo Verde tree

We loved Tucson and found it easy to get around.  We based ourselves in a municipal campground just west of the city, in the Tucson Mountain Park.  We ate a lot of good home style Mexican food at a small cheap restaurant near the campground.

From there we visited the Sonoran Desert Museum.  The Desert Museum is like a zoo, but it combines animals, plants and geology in its environment and displays.  They have a group of trained Harris' hawks that put on a free flying demonstration, which was amazing.

Harris' Hawk

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird

Humming bird nest with two babies

Hedgehog cactus ready to blossom

Rocks with secondary copper weathering minerals. Note happy geologist!