Like any true Arizonan (me, nearing 15 years in the state), I had not yet visited the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, even though I had heard nothing but good things about it for years. Living in and around Phoenix, we seem to regard Gila Bend as the end of the earth, then it's another 45+ miles south to Ajo, which may as well be on Mars. Organ Pipe is still another 35 miles further... forget about it. The only people it seems to mess with Organ Pipe are those passing through to get to Puerto Penasco (Mexico), tourists (usually from Europe), retirees and Mexican border crossers coming north. I knew in my heart I really should go down there some day; i just needed some sort of motivation. Mount Ajo has been in my sights for awhile but never on the immediate short list. With some time open over the long weekend, I bid my wife adieu and set out to visit a couple peaks over the weekend. Mount Ajo one of them, and Woolsey Peak near Gila Bend the other. Woolsey being closer, I tried that one first.

I left home early in the morning of the 30th and drove about 70 miles to the desert southwest of the farming towns of Arlington and Hassayampa, putting myself at the base of Woolsey Peak. But I spent more time than planned dealing with some awful four-wheel drive roads that ultimately put me way behind schedule, so after a short hike in the Woolsey wilderness I decided to cancel this attempt and come back another day, wiser and earlier. So on to Organ Pipe I went. From the Woolsey area it was maybe 20 miles to get to Gila Bend, where I thought I might stop for a bite, but the long lines everywhere turned me off, so I just pushed on to Ajo, where I did stop for groceries, gas and a bite. Ajo the town is a neat place, an old mining town, mostly filled with retirees these days, but with a full-time population of about a thousand, which is pretty big for being so remote. Its main attraction is an old Spanish-style central plaza and park. I was in Ajo in 1992, and again in 1996, both times just passing through, so I didn't remember much. Anyway, I drove on and rolled into Organ Pipe National Monument about 2 p.m. in very lovely, dry wintery weather. I got a campspot on the main grounds near the visitor's center, took a nap, had a great talk with a Park volunteer from North Dakota named Wayne who was out cleaning fire grills, a short hike into the cactus brush, and a nice night sitting out under the stars and a waxing gibbous moon. The Ajo Range, my objective for the next morning, was visible to the northeast, a big cliffy ridge topped by a couple of humps, the top-most being Mount Ajo summit.

I awoke at 6 a.m. the next morning and got moving a bit before 7. The weather was very chilly but still. I left the campground and visitor's center lot, crossed the highway and got onto the Ajo Mountain Drive Loop. This is a good dirt road (with pavement in some places), that runs for about 22 miles in a general clock-wise loop. It passes below a foreground range, topped by Mount Tillotson, then up through a pass and down (south), parallelling the Ajo Range. I pulled into the Bull Pasture/Estes Canyon parking and picnic area about 7:30, the only one there. I changed into my hiking clothes but also stayed in the cab, warming up a bit and giving the sun a chance to get higher. It was right about 8 a.m. sharp when I started in.

The trailhead is marked by the usual signs, including one warning of illegal crossers and smugglers and to be careful. A gigantic organ pipe cactus sits beside these signs, as well as a saguaro. Mount Ajo stood out as a leaning point high on the sheer cliffs ahead of me. A good trail starts in and splits a few feet later near a washbed. I stayed right and took the shorter (and steeper) route up to Bull Pasture, gaining about 800 feet in 1.5 miles in slightly less than an hour (the longer route via Estes Canyon adds a half-mile to the hike). This was fun hiking amid very dense cactus fields and hillsides, including a little of everything - saguaro, organ pipe, ocotillo, and cholla. Part of the trail runs underneath a big rock face, and some of it has been cut into the rock by trailbuilders. In time, the maintained trail ends at a sign overlooking Bull Pasture.

At the Bull Pasture sign I stopped for a break and looked over the rest of the route. Mount Ajo's summit still stood maddeningly high, guarded by west-facing sheer cliff walls. Trending south (my right) from the summit was a smaller pointy peak, and a larger subsummit marked as elevation 4,620 (extrapolated) on the map. South of Peak 4,620 the ridge continues in a broad sweep, south then west, cliff-laden, in a sort of cirque-bowl appearance. On the ridge's west end, like a prow, is an oddly-shaped thumb of rock. In the farthest reaches of this wall of cliffs is a drainage, greener than the surrounding flora, and marked by some tuff spires called 'the cones'. The reports all mentioned these items as navigation devices, the general idea being to hike to the thumb (but not quita all the way to it), then turn east, hike to the cones, where the trail would work itself up and over the cliffs to the ridge proper, and presumably from there to the very top. From where I stood it looked like quite a haul and I couldn't really see just where the cliffs could be breached. But off I went, eager to find out anyway.

The trail past the Bull Pasture sign is not maintained, but enough people hike this trail to have beaten it in to the ground so that navigating it is very easy. For a use trail, this is one of the better ones I have ever seen. Ironically, the trail seems weakest just after the sign as it descends into a broad drainage. Where it crosses some rocky sections I had to keep an eye out for some small cairns to stay on course, and once or twice I found myself stumped and having to make an educated guess, but I never had too much trouble. Once the trail reaches a low point, it improves and gains very gently, heading southeasterly toward the thumb. Soon, it reached a flattish area below the thumb where it then makes a sharp turn east, and continues some more, traversing the scrubby hillsides and ocassionally working its way up some rock sections. In all, this section has a very gentle gradient, which is nice for the legs but meant that at some point very soon it would get quite steep if it was ever going to get above the cliffs and onto the ridge. Soon I was below the cones, and it was here the trail made up for its lax gradient.

For a few hundred feet as the trail works left and up behind the cones, the route is extremely steep and rubbly. While it's not exposed or technical, this kind of loose, rubbly scree is the bane of my existence, and I went slow here, slipping here and there. Just generally annoying. A treat along the way is a natural arch nearby the trail, and it looks like you can easily get inside the arch, too, for those so inclined. I wasn't, and finally, the trail came to a little notch of rocks essentially at the headwall of the canyon. The upshot was that I was now very near the ridge, and I could see the general route clearer now. Ajo's summit was hidden behind the false summit of Peak 4,620. The trail evidently would traverse beneath various cliff bands along some sloping scrub hillsides toward a prominent ridgepoint below Peak 4,620.

Past the notch the trail dropped a bit and did indeed begin a long sweep norteasterly toward the false summit. In places the trail crossed some rocky gradients with little room for error, but otherwise the trail was in very good condition and pitched at a nice grade; I was quite surprised how well this portion went, and I made good time. I took my next break as the trail surmounted the ridge proper for the first time, due south of Peak 4,620. To the east was the endless desert of the Tohono O'odham Nation. I could spy some towns and a couple water towers. To the north was the big hulk of Peak 4,620. Again I wondered just where the trail went here since it all looked well guarded by the cliffs.

After my break I continued along the trail as it trended to the east of the foreground peak. In places cairns were needed to mark the trail, and I found myself scrambling up rocks more often than not, but by and large route-finding was a cinch. The crux of this section is a steep chute, gaining about 30 vertical feet and marked by an agave plant in its base. Holds were plentiful and exposure was not a concern, but some loose rock required care. Shortly I was above the chute and back onto trail, for better or for worse. It hugged high on Peak 4620's east side and eventually worked its way north, where I had my first high-up views of Mount Ajo, still a bit away in the distance. The trail then improved, stayed high and often right on the ridge, until I was at the base of the final push to the top. The last 40 vertical feet required a couple of short easy scrambles, and just like that, I was on top! I sat beside a large white (rusted) strong box, which I opened to find a register. I signed in; I was the only person up (so far) for today, and only one other had signed in the day before. In fact, only 3 or 4 people had signed in since Thanksgiving, but the register was old and full of names going way back many years. It would seem that based on the register, about 100 people reach the top in a typical year. I rested nearby the register, then walked up and down the bare rock to a couple other points that looked as high, or possibly higher, than the register's location. A few others evidently felt the same way; I found a small cairn at what I believed to the highest point nearby a solar panel apparatus. Afterwards I went back and sat for some more near the strong box. The views were astounding on such a clear day, including many peaks in Mexico. I could even see my truck at the trailhead. I momentarily wished for a long zipline to take me directly down, but figured a hike down would be rewarding, too.

I started down after maybe 15 minutes on top. The tricky bits weren't too bad up high on the ridge, and I made very good time as I worked my way back across the canyon headwall and the steep rubbly sections near the cones. Sure enough, I stumbled all over the place here, often using my butt as a point of contact - sometimes deliberate, sometimes not! I went real slow here, then back below the cones and onto better trail, picked up my pace considerably. I was back to the Bull Pasture sign after a bit over an hour where there were four people just sitting around having a lunch. No one said hi to anyone, and I took a quick break here to drink up and enjoy more views. With much of the range out of the morning shadows by now, I took advantage of the opportunity to snap some photos - most of what you see here was taken on the descent. The final mile and a half went fast, too, and I was back to my truck within an hour. It was a bit past 2 p.m.; I changed into drier clothes and got moving, making the leisurely drive back onto the highway, and stopping for photos along the way.

I stopped back into the Organ Pipe Visitor's Center to inquire about the loop road on the park's west side - Puerto Blanco Road, I think. After a ranger was shot dead by a Mexican smuggler in 2002, they closed the road and that entire section of the park indefinitely. They seem to be pinning their hopes on the planned border fence that will be built in the next few years. In other words, who knows when that part of the park will reopen. I then drove south five miles into Lukeville, the small settlement on the Arizona side of the Mexican border. I picked up some drinks and food. There isn't much to Lukeville; the Mexican town on the other side, Sonoyta, is a bit larger. Most people here are Americans heading down to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco). I didn't bother driving into Sonoyta. Instead I returned north, passed a Border Patrol checkpoint, passed through the town of Why, and then proceeded west along AZ-86 across the Tohono O'odham Nation.

My plan was to camp near Tucson and hike up Kitt Peak the next day. I camped at the Gilbert Ray grounds on the Tucson Mountains Park Preserve near Saguaro National Park. I was beat and crashed by about 10 p.m., but awoke again at midnight as everyone cheered in 2007. Twenty minutes of hollers, horns, firecrackers and gunshots followed, then quiet again. My Kitt Peak hike did not happen, alas, as the road was closed (I planned to hike a jeep road that could only be accessed from the highway, which was closed). Besides, clouds had moved in and it was kind of gloomy anyway. Instead, I spent the day exploring the backroads of the Tohono O'odham Nation, including visiting two confluences in the region, 32 North 112 West, and its northern neighbor, 33 North 112 West. I was home in Phoenix by 2 p.m., welcoming in 2007 with my wife, Beth.

Despite being one for three on the peaks during the weekend, I had a blast on Ajo, and we will most definitely return to visit, as soon as March possibly. I think a loop day hike to Bull Pasture would be fun; I regret that I did not explore the Estes Canyon leg of the hike while there. It's a great place and fairly uncrowded. Sure enough, the percentage of Arizonans signing in the summit log and/or the visitor's center register was maybe 10%; a lot were from out of state, and maybe a quarter from Europe.