Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona – March 3, 2022
Fresh off the Anza-Borrego workshop, I headed straight to another workshop at Organ Pipe. The park takes its name from the organ pipe cactus, though the saguaro is equally at home here and just as impressive. We stayed at a wonderfully repurposed old elementary school — now the Sonoran Desert Inn and Conference Center in Ajo. The park sits right on the border with Mexico, and you can walk right up to the wall. It's a surreal experience — this enormous structure rising out of the desert landscape.
On the way back, I stopped at the Buttermilk Dunes near the California/Arizona state line. Before paved highways crossed this stretch of desert, a clever plank road was built to "float" vehicles across the shifting sands. A section of it is preserved there, and while I'd known about it for some time, I'd never actually seen it in person — so this felt like a long overdue stop.
I should have known better. After all the off-roading in Anza-Borrego and Organ Pipe, I was feeling a little overconfident when I spotted the plank road. I pulled off the highway, the sand looked firm enough, so I drove out a bit further. Then it went soft. I spun around trying to keep momentum — and instead buried myself deeper into the dune. I was well and truly stuck! Three hours and $300 later, a tow truck finally pulled me out. Lesson learned!
