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As forecasted, the wind blew through the night. Typically in our Four Wheel Camper wind doesn’t bother us, but this was another level of wind. The roof was flexing and popping and the sides of the camper were billowing in and out. It was going to be another windy day in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. We packed up camp and drove to a place where we could find internet coverage so we could study the extent of the predicted high winds. It appeared that the wind was going to last at least the next two to three days and cover all of southern California, even reaching over to Nevada and northern Arizona and beyond. But it did appear the far southern reaches of Arizona were out of the wind path. And there it was, a little spot saved on our Google map as “want to go” right on the border of Mexico. Organ Pipe National Monument was a five hour drive, but the weather looked gorgeous, no wind and temps in the 70’s. Not bad for the first of March. Not seeing another option if we wanted to escape the predicted 80 mile per hour gusts, we gave in, pointed the truck east and made the five hour drive.

Note: This story is part of the series South to Spring. Click the link or head to our timeline for the other chapters of the trip.

It was the best decision we could have made. Yes the wildflowers were popping at Anza Borrego, but as we arrived in the Sonoran Desert, in all its green splendor as the sun was heading to the horizon, we knew we made the right call. It didn’t hurt that Arizona fuel prices were half of what they were in Borrego Springs. The temperatures were in the 70’s and we had left the wind and blowing dust storms behind. We drove south, nearly to Mexico, and after most of a day driving we entered Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. We settled in to camp and took a stroll just in time to watch the sunset just like we were in a scene out of the Arizona Highways magazine. In fact our entire time here seemed like turning pages of an article right out of Arizona Highways.

The following morning we were off the explore the monument. We spent most of the day on the Puerto Blanco loop drive. Our first hike was to the Red Tank Tinaja. With the saguaros scattered over the landscape it felt like a different world. I could not believe how green the desert was here, quite a contrast to the southern California deserts we had spent our last two weeks in.

We had been collecting a list of flowers on our trip south to see spring, and somewhere along the way I noticed a plant called the fairy duster in our ID app. I never expected to see it in real life, and then there it was.

As we visited places across the monument the fairy duster seemed to be in full bloom in just about every wash. The pink fuzzy “dusters” gave a nice contrast to the green desert.

We continued on our loop adding in a couple more hikes, including a loop around Senita Basin. The Senita Basin is said to host the majority of the senita cactus, a hairy or fuzzy looking cousin to the organ pipe. Just a word of warning here, we hiked the three mile loop eagerly awaiting an encounter with all the senita, but we spotted exactly zero of them. What’s in a name anyway? We snapped our obligatory pic of one as we headed back down the road from the trailhead.

We finished off the Puerto Blanco loop with a drive along “the wall”. The loop is filled with warning signs letting you know you will likely encounter illegal activity, smuggling and sure death. A continuous stream of semis were whizzing past on the other side of the border, but apparently the warnings deter most of the visitors from enjoying the loop on the US side, as we had the majority of the drive and hikes to ourselves on the perfect blue sky day.

Earlier in the day, before we left the campground I heard some electronic sounding trill, almost like a ray gun from a science fiction movie. I thought it may be some sort of RV sound effect. But we continued to hear it once we were away from the crowds. I finally figured out how to use Merlin, the bird ID app, and it told me the Sonoran woodpecker was the ray gun bird. I also learned about the cactus wren, who was also making quite a racket. If you haven’t ever used Merlin to listen for birds and you otherwise struggle with bird ID like I do, I highly recommend you give it a try. We were birding by ear the rest of our stay. The curve billed thrashers were some of my favorite songs from Organ Pipe, and I no longer worried about being stunned by the ray gun.

Our first full day of exploring Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was drawing to a close. We were so glad we went out of our way to come see spring here, it was the silver lining in that miserable wind we left behind in California. The sky was setting up for another spectacular sunset. I’m not sure how the clouds materialize right before sunset just to add the drama of light to the sky, but it seemed to happen every evening. Perhaps someone at the monument lets them out to put on the evening show.

We hiked up a nearby ridge and spotted a few small elephant trees. Another strange desert plant, with its thick water storing trunk.

The light danced across the sky before we headed off the ridge. Beautiful cactus gardens, blooming plants out of fairy tales, new birds teaching us their songs, we had definitely found spring at Organ Pipe.