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On our return from Puerto Penasco we stopped at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, north of the U.S.-Mexico border, to learn more about this special place. Approaching the Visitor Center we were confronted with a grim reminder of the Monument’s location along the border; a memorial to Ranger Kris Eggle who was shot to death in August of 2002 while helping the Border Patrol track members of a violent Mexican drug cartel. Established in 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt the 330,689 acre Monument has long been a land of overlap, where past borders weren’t as neatly defined as current ones.

To borrow the subtitle of Monument’s own booklet the Valley of the Ajo has long been a place “where edges meet.” In the highest canyons oak trees and junipers cling to life—living reminders of a cooler, wetter period during the last Ice Age. Mesquite and Palo Verde trees which evolved in sub-tropical climates, moved north to their present locations as the temperatures rose and glaciers retreated. Cactuses like the Monument’s namesake Organ Pipe (Stenocereus thurberi) and Senita (Pachycereus schottii) plus the small Elephant Tree (Bursera microphylla) cross the border from Mexico only in this corner of Arizona. This amazing mix of biotic communities leads to a wide array of species diversity with 28 different kinds of cactus and 550 kinds of vascular plants!

As one might expect the animal population is just as diverse with 279 species of birds, 70 mammalian species, 43 reptiles, 5 amphibians, and even one species of fish. Surviving in a spring-fed pool the endangered Quitobaquito pupfish (Cyprinodon eremus) once swam in a much larger home. As glaciers retreated and the climate warmed, connected waterways dried up leaving the tiny fish swimming in a pool surrounded by desert. Other animals also stayed behind as the climate changed: Desert Tortoises are holdouts from when the Mojave Desert once covered this area, White-tailed Deer, found high in the hills, are remnants from cooler times, and in the low valleys the Sidewinder survives far away from its homeland near the Sea of Cortez.

The human story of the region is no less intermingled, with distinct cultures sharing the landscape for over ten thousand years. One of the earliest groups, a Paleoindian culture called Malpais, left behind little but stone tools and lizard shaped geoglyphs that date back roughly 12,000 years. The Malpais may have been the area’s first inhabitants but they were not alone for long. Archaeological evidence shows that the San Dieguito people from the west and the Clovis people from the east soon crossed into southwestern Arizona.

As the climate changed so too did the lifeways of these early residents. The Archaic period in the American Southwest lasted from 8000 BC to roughly 1000 BC and in the Valley of the Ajo there was another overlapping of cultures, this time the Amargosan Culture from southern California and the Cochise Culture from eastern Arizona. They not only left behind stone tools but also evidence of extensive trade networks such as turquoise from northern Arizona, shells from the California coast and salt from the Sea of Cortez.

Another import from Mexico brought significant change to the people of the southwest and signaled the end of the Archaic Period—agriculture. Again, there was a blending of groups with the Pitayan from the Colorado River Valley, the Trincheras from the south, and the Hohokam from central Arizona sharing the land and elements of their cultures. Though much of the Monument has yet to be surveyed by archaeologists large villages with hand-dug wells, reservoirs, and canals have been documented. Excavations show that these groups were quite successful living an almost lavish lifestyle until suddenly, in the 1400s, they disappeared.

Well, they didn’t exactly disappear. True, their villages, canals, and fields were abandoned but instead of vanishing it is more plausible that the people adapted to a changing environment by dispersing across the landscape. For good reason, many researchers believe that today’s Akimel, Tohono, and Hia-Ced O’odham, people who still live in Arizona, are the Hohokam’s descendants.

Though Father Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit missionary, may not have been the first European to travel through the area he certainly made more of an impact. As one of the King of Spain’s representatives in New Spain Kino had a dual mission—not only was he to convert the natives into good Christians and loyal Spanish citizens but he was to map the land, making note of valuable resources along the way. In a rare occurrence for the time, Kino respected the indigenous populations he encountered. Instead of subjugating them with harsh demands he won them with gifts of cattle, goats, fig and pomegranate trees—beneficial things previously unknown to the tribes.

Some of the shade the pupfish swims in at the Quitobaquito pond today is provided by pomegranates and mission fig trees that are probably descendants of those brought by Padre Kino in 1698. Kino certainly knew of the spot as the oasis was marked prominently on his map. After all, water is the desert’s most precious resource. Years later Spanish Army Lt. Diez, leading a mounted detachment on a survey, used Kino’s map to find the springs where they stopped for some much needed refreshment.

Quitobaquito proved to be a lifesaving watering hole in the 1850s as potential prospectors made their way to California to partake in the state’s legendary Gold Rush. Traveling across the harsh desert could be dangerous and the road soon earned the name El Camino del Diablo (Devil’s Highway) as over 400 people died along the way. Many of the deaths occurred during the summer months when the air temperature can reach 118 degrees Celsius and the ground heats up to whopping 175! It is hard for any life form to withstand those kinds of extremes, especially without water.

Access to water determined the location of the first American settlers who arrived shortly after the signing of the Gadsden Purchase. In 1861 Andrew Dorsey claimed a parcel near the spring at Quitobaquito and twenty five years later W.B. Bates built his home north of the spring only after his well reached water. Over the decades there were many attempts to tame this wild and rugged land, most of which ultimately failed. Scattered across the Monument are the remains of ranch houses, old corrals, abandoned mine shafts, and forgotten dirt roads—scars in the desert that will take a long time to heal.

We were pleasantly surprised during our visit by the lack of damage we saw. While there were sections of the bajada that were sparsely vegetated (the result of overgrazing) and the old Ajo-Sonoyta Road was a barren path that wound through the desert, overall the landscape was lush. It probably helped that we were visiting the Monument during the winter months of a very wet year—the Monument had received over twice its annual average precipitation of 7.2 inches. With its striking environment, remote setting and myriad of species—no wonder the Monument was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976.

During our drive along the 21-mile Ajo Mountain Loop we kept a wary eye out for signs of illegal activity and were relieved to find very few. We came across a few piles of empty water bottles, likely left behind by border crossers, but nothing too recent. Since the Monument’s southern boundary is the Mexican border, certain parts of the Monument are closed to the public and visitors are warned about the potential dangers—primarily from drug and human smuggling operations.

The area is no stranger to illicit enterprises. In the early 1900s Pancho Villa and some of his supporters, considered criminals by both the U.S. and Mexican governments, sought refuge in the Ajo Mountains. A couple decades later during Prohibition “importers”, such as Al Capone, used the small road (now SR 85) that bisected the Monument to bring load after load of alcohol into the U.S.

While there are many facets of the current borderlands situation that merit careful consideration I would like to mention one—environmental degradation. In a setting as fragile as the Sonoran Desert major changes such as walls, fires, fences, garbage piles, and roads can upset the system’s precarious balance. It would not take much to push the endangered Quitobaquito pupfish, or the threatened Desert Tortoise, Sonoran Pronghorn, or Desert Bighorn Sheep to the brink of extinction. Species rare in the U.S. such as the Organ Pipe Cactus, Senita, and Elephant Bush were the reason the Monument was protected all those years ago. Hopefully, these special species will continue to thrive in the Monument for many years to come.

Photos: View our photographs from Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.