Ajo is one of the closest communities in Arizona near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument where we were able to get an RV park reservation. In Spanish, Ajo is the word for garlic. However, the Tohono O’odham Indians have a similar sounding word o’oho which, is their word for paint. The Tohono O’odham people obtained their red paint pigments from the Ajo area. From Tucson it was about a 2.5 hour drive.
Ajo, Arizona
Ajo was primarily settled because of its’ high grade copper ore. Americans, Spaniards and Native Americans all extracted minerals from the area. It wasn’t until open pit mining and improved extraction methods did Ajo boom. In 1985, the mine employees went on strike, severely limiting operations, so the mine closed.
Now, there are only around 3,000 people living here. There is a large Border Patrol presence and a retired community. Murals were thoughout the city. It’s so much better to get permission and create fun art as opposed to obnoxious graffiti.
Ajo Heights RV Park
Ajo Heights offered full service, decent wifi, and good satellite reception. Normally, it’s closed this time of the year. However, all the RV parks were full, partially because of workers building the border wall.
Even though it was pushing 100 F, Jake relished in his moments to soak up the sun. Unfortunately, we were having chassis battery wiring problems since Tucson. We had it serviced at Freedom RV, but it didn’t resolve the problem. Two days of checking fuses and cleaning and retightening connections, we failed to improve the problem. Hopefully, it can be diagnosed and fixed when we are in California.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument shares the border with the Mexican State of Sonora.
It’s the only place in the USA where the Organ Pipe Cactus grow.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was turned over by Arizona to the Federal government during Prohibition. Rumor is that this was partially done knowing that the road from Mexico would be improved by the government creating a good route for importing contraband alcohol.
In 1937, Organ Pipe Cactus became a National Monument. Unfortunately, it is a hot spot for drug and human smuggling from Mexico.
Even though the visitor center was closed and some roads closed for construction, the Ajo Mountain drive was open. We didn’t see another person on the entire 21 mile loop road.
It was just the start of the Organ Pipe Cactus bloom. There were plenty of cactus on the verge, but we needed another couple of days.
We did not see any deer, javelina, antelope, desert bighorn sheep, or mountain lion. But we did see a gila monster.
The monument is beautiful and surrounded by picturesque mountains.
