Last Light: The last light of day covers the desert mountains while cacti and other plants fall into the shadow in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Afternoon Light: Beautiful late afternoon light colors the hillsides in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.comBy GARY WARREN
Photographer
Formerly of Los Alamos
The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument sits in southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert.
The park is more than 500 square miles and the only place in the United States where the organ pipe cactus grows in the wild.
In 1976 the monument was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, and in 1977 95 percent of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was declared a wilderness area.
Editor’s note: Longtime Los Alamos photographer Gary Warren and his wife Marilyn are traveling around the country and he shares his photographs, which appear in the ‘Posts from the Road’ series published in the Sunday edition of the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Desert View: Along with the organ pipe cactus, many other varieties of cacti grow in abundance within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Backlighting: The warm afternoon sun backlights an organ pipe cactus creating a glow on the cactus arms. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com
Decay: This organ pipe cactus still shows beauty even in various stages of decay. Photo by Gary Warren/ladailypost.com