Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

8 03 2022

We’re back, for the 4th time, at one of our favorites, Organ Pipe Cactus, NM located in southern Arizona about 5 miles from the Mexican border.  And, we’re once again parked at site #63 with friends in site #77.  Other than a shared water (unthreaded) faucet next to our site, the only other amenities at this campground are a dump station with two potable water fills.  We’ve arrived empty, so our first order of business is to fill our 66 gallons of fresh water.  On recreation.gov, our site is listed as “max 35 foot RV” – where there’s plenty of room for our 35’ RV and the pickup.  The site is also in the generator section, meaning we can run our generator for 2, 2 hours periods per day, between 8-10AM and 4-6PM.  Sites 113-208 never permit generator use.

“Out the Back Window”, site #63, Organ Pipe Cactus

Last year we focused on a few hikes in the park, today with access to friends jeep we explore the 21 mile Ajo Mountain Drive.  Along the way are great views of Arch Canyon, a 90 foot wide arch near the top of a jagged cliff nearly 600 feet above the trail.  Upon close examination a second arch can be spotted just above the main arch making this a unique and rare example of a double arch.

Double Arch at Sunset, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

On Saturday we’re off to Puerto Peñasco, also known as Rocky Point.  What was once a small fishing village on the Sea of Cortez has morphed into tourist shops, bars, restaurants and even a few high rise condos.  There are also a handful of RV parks, the nicest of which is the Reef RV Resort next to Wrecked on the Reef bar and grill.  After touring these parks in 2020, we’re rethinking our decision to stay on the US side of the border.  Perhaps a long weekend at the Reef would be great fun!  We’ll see what happens next year.

Malecon, Puerto Penasco

Reef RV Resort, Puerto Penasco

From Organ Pipe Cactus we’re headed to the East Valley, Sunrise RV in Apache Junction.  We stayed at Sunrise last year, and will be here only 2 weeks this year.  Then we’re moving to Lost Dutchman State Park for the reminder of our 2 weeks in the Phoenix area.  More from Lost Dutchman…


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Categories : Spring Road Trip 2022

Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point)

7 03 2020

Our trip to Organ Pipe is twofold, to get out of the Phoenix noise and lights and to check out RV parks in Puerto Penasco, also known as Rocky Point.  Puerto Penasco, MX is located about 65 miles south of Organ Pipe, and a favorite destination of RV’ers and Spring Breakers.  With our Mexican Car Insurance policy (purchased online) in hand, on Friday we cross the border and make the trek down to the Sea of Cortez.  Puerto Penasco appears to be a fun destination, with great seafood restaurants and Cobo-like party environment.

Grilled Red Snapper at Pedro’s – Rocky Point

After a delicious seafood lunch at Pedro’s on the Malecon, we begin our park tours at Playa de Oro RV Resort, rated 8.9 on CampgroundReviews.com.  Playa is located just east of the central area of Puerto Penasco, but is probably too far to walk to town.  And, it might not be in the best neighborhood either.  RV’s are arranged in fairly tight quarters in this graveled lot.  There appears to be full hookups and towers for WiFi access points.  The “premium” beach side sites have a bit more room, but still lack any outside amenities such as a cement slab or tables or grills.  There are also spaces across the street in the “North Forty” that appear even tighter and of course don’t have the advantage of ocean views.

Playa de Oro Rv Resort

Leaving the eastern beach area, we checked out 3 resorts along the western area, starting with Concha del Mar rated 9.0!  This is a dry campground, providing a beautiful location along the ocean, fenced & gated, with onsite laundry facilities and showers.  Fresh water fill and waste tank disposal is available by truck at unknown costs.  Nightly space rates are $12/night.  Stays beyond 1 week accrue free nights, 1 for every 7 you stay.

Concha del Mar Campground & RV Park

Right next door to Concha del Mar is Playa Bonita Resort & RV Park providing full hookups right on the edge of the beach. Spaces were well laid out, a bit tight and again, the best were those along the beach.  WiFi towers were visible, but we didn’t try to connect.  Pretty much the same as all others, gravel and hard packed sand sites, no outside amenities and fairly tight quarters.

Playa Bonita RV Resort

Much further to the west and directly next door to Wrecked at the Reef is the relatively new Reef RV Resort.  Providing full hookups, this beach side RV park is probably our favorite at Puerto Penasco.  The downside is the long trip into town, the upside is that the park is the largest and newest in the area.  Sites are laid out on gravel and hard packed sand, most fairly tight, but those along the beach providing great ocean views.  And, it might be expensive to be living next to Wrecked on the Reef Restaurant and Night Club!

The Reef RV Resort

The Reef RV Resort

Billboard just across the Mexico border at Sonoyta, MX

So, the question is – will we come back with the RV next year?  At this point it’s doubtful.  The beach resorts and RV parks are no nicer than those that are available along the Texas Gulf Coast – and there’s a certain comfort of remaining “in-country” along with no insurance hassles.  Will we visit Rocky Point again – probably.  It appears to be a fun town, provides great value and it very close to where we travel in the spring.


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Categories : Spring Road Trip 2020

Organ Pipe Cactus

5 03 2020

Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus

After a relatively short drive to just north of the Mexican boarder, we’re parked in site #63 at Twin Peaks campground in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  This is our second visit to Organ Pipe – we love it here, with no electricity in the campground, there are no A/C’s running, and quiet, dark nights for optimum star viewing.  The campground is available by reservation or walk-up.  With nearly 80 of the 400 sites showing available, we forgot that many of the sites are short and about half don’t allow the use of generators.  Next time, we’ll reserve this site or #77, another favorite site complete with a towering sequoia and a large organ pipe cactus.

Organ Pipe Cactus, Site #63

There is no campground WiFi, although they say it’s available at the Visitor Center.  We didn’t try that and instead used our cellular data via a Hot Spot.  By default our T-Mobile phones seemed to roam to very slow AT&T service.  However, by manually selecting the network as the Mexican operator Telcel – we were able to achieve very good 4G speeds.  We’re not sure why we were allowed to roam internationally at 4G, but it worked great.

The campground also provides a dump station along with a threaded fresh water fill.  Scattered through out the campsites are water spigots, not threaded, but could probably be used with a water bandit type adapter. There are also flush toilets and solar heated showers (warning “cold in the mornings”) available at a couple of shower houses scattered throughout the campground.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Moument, Site #63

This was our first experience with the solar configuration on the new Montana.  Overall, the experience was good.  We have a better feel for what the panel and controller can do with dual AGM batteries, and even managed to watch a couple of hours of DISH TV using the inverter.  We did end up running the generator 2 hours one morning, just to make sure we were topped-up after a cloudy afternoon.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Site #77


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Categories : Spring Road Trip 2020