Arizona Bureau of Land Management

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument

9/19/2009 NPS Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument

Sonoran Desert National Monument

4/7/2019 Starting after Maricopa, and continuing well past Gila Bend we were on the Juan Bautista de Anza NHT as confirmed by the Auto Route signage. We drove through the Sonoran Desert National Monument, a BLM property [and on the Butterfield Overland NHT]. I had driven through a couple of times on the interstate but had no stops planned in order to take official credit. Ken had plotted a couple of waypoints; the first kind of pooped out with no signage, albeit with nice views of the mountains and various cacti, but the second was really nice. We walked around a bit (having put on sunscreen) and enjoyed taking photos of the Saguaro, Ocotillo and other cactus and plants against the mountains. The JBdA walking trail passes just north of this spot, roughly following the old Butterfield Stage route and the modern road.

Me taking a photo of ...

... the auto route sign

First stop view ...

... and historic trail info

Cactus and hills

Second site Saguaro

Cactus skeleton

Ocotillo

Pretty cactus flower

Baby Saguaro

Me and Ken