Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

We headed south from Tonapah down into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. January's full moon rose over the Ajo mountains. This moonrise is the largest and brightest of the year, because the moon is at it's closest to earth this month. We spent two weeks in Organ Pipe. Its' a great place to be in January!

Here's a view of the campground from a hill to the west. We're camped in the center of the campground.

I found these water bottles at moonrise on a hill overlooking the campground. They're tied together with rope so they can be readily carried. I'm not certain why they were painted black. Perhaps the illegals they belong to were planning to come down after dark to get some water from the camp.

A ranger named Kris Eggle was killed by illegals in Organ Pipe on August 9th, 2002. When my daughter Elise and I were there earlier that year, we saw several illegals entering the country in the remote south western corner of the Monument. The problem has become so bad that several sections of the Monument are now closed to the American public. While we were there, one of President Bush's final executive orders became effective. This order now allows concealed carry permit holders to legally carry our weapons in a National Park or Monument. I carried my pistol on every hike we made in Organ Pipe.

This is the view from inside an old mine building on one of our hikes. The trails are closed to the American public past this point due to safety concerns. We saw several parties of illegals that were captured during our two week visit. The border patrol is quite active here.