Fabulous Organ Pipe

I went to Organ Pipe Cactus NM yesterday, for the first time in about a decade and only the third time overall. Each visit has been brief which is a bad procedure since there's so much to see! I took the Ajo Mountain Drive yesterday and found many fine stands of Organ Pipes. These cacti are common in Sonora, across the border in Mexico, but are widespread in the US only within the monument.

In addition to a verdant, diverse cactus forest, the landscape in Organ Pipe is spectacular, with multicolored, rugged volcanic cliffs in many places.

The lowering afternoon sun renders the cacti translucent...

Especially the chain fruit cholla.

It's early for most of the cactus to be blooming, but I found this nice buckhorn cholla flower.