Post 14 Organ Pipe National Monument and Saguaro National Park

- November 19, 2025

Oct 27-Nov 1

We spent three nights camping in Why, Arizona, so we could visit Organpipe Cactus National Monument. Why is an itty-bitty town on the border of the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and the Mexican border. There’s really nothing there except a gas station/casino. Our desert campground was very small and in front of the owner’s home. She was lovely and still had her Scottish brogue after 20 years. We were the only ones there. Why is about 10 miles south of Ajo, where there is a small, thriving community.

We drove 20 miles south of Why to the National Monument, on the Mexican border. Nothing in the park was open due to the shutdown, but we could drive through and hike the trails. Border Patrol was everywhere! We drove the 21 mile scenic loop (dirt) road and hiked a short nature trail near the visitor center. There were also ocotillo, cholla, saguaro and prickly pear cacti amongst the Organpipes. It was a very hot day so we drove to Ajo and spent the afternoon at a coffee shop sipping iced coffee and tea, reading and writing some postcards.

The next day we explored Ajo. Like many towns in the region, it has a history of mining. We visited the now closed copper mine. It was the largest open-pit mine (over a mile across) back in the mid-1900’s.

Ajo has a lovely plaza and lots of murals and art around town. It was hot again in the afternoon, so we spent some time in the library planning our route for the next few weeks and then went back to the coffee shop.

Off to Tucson with an overnight stop in Yuma.

Saguaro National Park is in Tucson, so we made our way there. We stopped at the visitor center for maps and guides and drove a short way to a hike to some petroglyphs. Hot weather was predicted again, so we decided to do our hiking in the morning.

We spent our afternoon at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. Even though most of their exhibits are outside, much of the trail is shaded. They have a wide variety of exhibits, including plants and animals (insects, birds, reptiles and mammals) of the area. Their mature Cactus and Pollinator Gardens were beautiful. Anne still hasn’t seen a real Havelina or Roadrunner….

Now that we’ve been traveling for almost 4 months, we’ve decided we enjoy van life enough to upgrade our van to a real camping van. We spent part of our day looking at some camper vans and figuring out what type of lay-out would work for us – very exciting!

We’re staying in a beautiful Kampground of America (KOA). Our tent site has a covered table with electricity and a sink. Plus, an orange tree to shade us! Sadly, the fruit wasn’t quite ripe. There are 5-6 rows of sites covered by solar panels providing shade and electricity! We were there for Halloween and the kids went site to site for trick or treating! Halloween party for the grown-ups later that night.

On our way out of town, we stopped at another Van Life Campground here in Tucson. This is a partner campground, not managed by VLC, but with the same community vibes. It was a funky place with hotel rooms and places to park RVs and vans.