The beautiful scenic Ajo Mountain Drive showcases the eastern half of the park and is filled with vistas, a few hikes, and plenty of Organ Pipe Cactuses and Saguaros. It’s a 21 mile one-way loop through mountains and parched desert earth with two hikes that include the Arch Canyon Hike and Estes Canyon-Bull Pasture Trail.

Tillitson Peak and the Diablo Mountains form the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous landscape at the beginning of the drive. The Arch Canyon Hike (.7 mile roundtrip) has you walk beneath the beautiful Arch that’s framed by towering cactus. If you’re keen and willing, there’s a 2.6 mile roundtrip path that climbs to the top of the cliff affording you a fantastic view (apparently, cause I haven’t done it yet).

I found the second half of this drive once you’ve passed the Arch Canyon with the AJo Range to your east to be the most exciting when it comes to the Organ Pipe Cactuses. In this Sonoyta Valley area they grow enormous and some of them entangle themselves into Saguaros making a xenomorph of cactuses with reaching tentacles that seem to be groping for your limbs as you pass by. I loved every second of this area and I explored quite a bit of it on foot.

The Estes Canyon-Bull Pasture Trail is a 3.5 mile loop trail with a grand viewpoint in the Ajo Mountain Range that makes up the eastern border of the Monument. Eventually you’ll make your way through the Sonoyta Valley and back onto 85 where you should find yourself a nice campground to view the sunset with.