After the Anza-Borrego workshop I headed to another workshop in Organ Pipe. The park is named for the organ pipe cactus, but the saguaro cactus is in great abundance here as well. We stayed in an old elementary school that was remodeled into the Sonoran Desert Inn and Conference Center in Ajo. This park is right on the border with Mexico. We were able to walk right up to the wall. It is rather strange to be in a place and have this wall just be there.
At the California/Arizona state line there are huge sand dunes at the Buttermilk Dunes. Before there were paved roads and highways through here a plank road was created to float on the dunes. Part of this road is preserved here and I had known about it for sometime but had never seen it for myself. On the way back from Organ Pipe I decided to stop here.
I guess with all the offroading we did in Anza-Borrego and Organ Pipe I was feeling over confident and lazy when I found the plank road. I first pulled off the road and saw the sand, but it seemed stable so I drove out further. It suddenly got soft and I turned to get out of there trying to keep up momentum. Instead of getting out, I drove into deeper sand and the slope. I was stuck! Three hours later and $300 I got a tow out.
