Images of Sonoran Desert National Monument – Central Arizona, taken in December 2017.

Sonoran Desert National Monument is run by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which means there are virtually no services within the park and in this case, no paved roads. In fact, most park roads were either 4-wheel or all-wheel drive accessible only and much of the northern section of the park was closed to all vehicle traffic because it was being “reclaimed”. It’s not hard to see why; unlike National Park Services (NPS) parks, the BLM allows ATV style access to all of its parks and I could see from where the roads were closed that there was considerable damage being done to the landscape by off road vehicles. And as if that wasn’t clear enough, as I approached the North Maricopa Mountain Wilderness near Margies Cove West, I saw a cloud of dust where a dune-buggy was doing donuts. The good-ole-boy rednecks were just tearing up the desert a little before they drove deeper into the park wilderness area. I wasn’t about to approach these thugs so I turned around and got out of there…

The park is actually a lot like the area around Tucson as can be expected since the city is also within the boundaries of the Sonoran Desert which stretches from northern Mexico to central Arizona and into eastern California. Saguaro cacti dominate in the areas in and around the wilderness areas and there are vast flatlands with other types of cactus and low lying shrubs.

The Sonoran desert looks barren and foreboding to many who view it from afar or as they drive along I-8 as they speed through the park but for those that actually immerse themselves in the area they find that it is actually full of life and interesting vistas. It is a unique and wonderfully interesting area.