Gringo Pass, with its one motel and one diner, isn't exactly a resort, but the experience of the Sonoran Desert made the Spartan accommodations worthwhile. In this amazing desert wilderness of plants and animals and dramatic mountains, you can drive a lonely road, hike a backcountry trail or camp beneath a clear desert sky. The National Park Service manages Organ Pipe as a living museum. At the visitor center a captioned slide program is available, as well as guidebooks for each of two scenic drives, the Puerto Blanco and the Ajo Mountain drive. Posted numbers along the road correspond to explanations and stories of the desert in the booklets.
Access is by foot, bicycle or private vehicle.
I had seen pictures of the giant saguaro, organ pipe and cholla cacti, but never imagined the way I would feel to be among them. It was a very different sensation from the one I have in the woods. I got to know well the cholla, a spiny cactus whose sections come off and stick to just about anything they touch. Having put our picnic supplies on the ground, without looking carefully, I spent much of that mealtime pulling needles out of my hand, my shoes, the bags and seating pads. From Lukeville we headed east on scenic routes.