I've not done much hiking in Organ Pipe NM proper and was anxious to head out. My first choice was to hike up to Bull Pasture off the Ajo Mountain Drive, but the temperatures were really cool and it didn't start to warm up until about 11:00. I decided to head over to the Victoria Mines. It is an easy 2.1 mile from the family campground but I elected to go to the Visitor Center first and hike to the mines from there adding some more easy mileage.
The trail to the mines is very easy rolling through some small washes with some miner short hills to walk up. There isn't much shade, which was probably a good thing, but I wouldn't want to be walking the trail in warmer weather, because it would probably be too hot.
There are remainstof an old building which I believe was thought to be a store.
All of the mine shafts have been closed off for safety reasons
as well as to protect the bat habitat. Apparently the bats really like the old abandoned mines. The Victoria Mines date back as far as the 1880's and are thought to be the oldest example of silver mines in the Organ Pipe NM and some of the oldest in south west Arizona.
The views are spectacular from some of the mine tailings.
The photo below pictures the different layers of cactus. Cholla and Ocatillo in the foreground, then Saguaro, and the hill is covered with organ pipe.
So, it was a pretty nice easy day of hiking. The Monument is very quiet and I didn't see another soul on the trail.
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