#gilabendaz

Along the Sunset Route

Southern Pacific water tank, Gila Bend, Arizona

Land acknowledgement: Cocopah, O’odham Jeweḍ, Maricopa, Hohokam, Yavapai Apache.

Gila Bend, Arizona

Stout's Hotel and a storefront. Here's a link that provides some information on the Stout's.

Land acknowledgement: Cocopah, O’odham Jeweḍ, Maricopa, Hohokam, Yavapai Apache.

5/21/2014 – I had hoped for a campout at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument with a drive thru of Gila Bend, but… I had some time to kill, then head back to Tucson to pick up a vehicle I’m hoping gets fixed on time. I couldn’t believe Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field had billeting, so I booked a room and would do a drive thru of the monument. Organ Pipe NM preserves nearly the entire organ pipe cactus habitat in the United States. They only grow at certain temperatures, so I just had to go see. It sits on the Mexican border south of Ajo and Gila Bend, Arizona, where I have been and which have a few memories for me. As soon as I got to the park, I wish I had more time. There are three areas with scenic drives and hikes of different lengths and difficulties. I picked the longest loop drive, mostly dirt, and had one thought-I wish I had my own vehicle, but I was glad the dirt road was beating up on a rental. Actually two thoughts-the other being how majestic single and groups of organ pipes looked, especially against the low mountains. Organ pipe cactus look like a shrub that branches from the ground, throwing out spiny branches that grow upwards together-hence the pipe organ name. most of the plants I saw were medium height, maybe twelve feet high, with about a dozen “pipes”, but some were twice that. I started a hike at a viewpoint of a unique double arch-the second arch was tiny and delicate-but didn’t get very far. Early morning would have been better. I would have to leave the historic ranch, mines, and canyons of this place undiscovered. Besides, I was anxious to get to Gila Bend.

I had been to Gila bend twice. My last job in the Air Force was operating radar that simulated guidance systems for anti-aircraft artillery and surface to air missiles. Gila Bend was the support base for the newly-named Barry Goldwater Range, a huge area of southern Arizona. We would bring down a small contingent with two or three systems and help train aircrews in countering those threats. We also had a lot of fun. It was here I saw an A-10 strafe a simulated convoy and here my crew was “dusted” by an F-16 at about 50 feet above us. It was here that a buddy named the saguaro the “happy cactus”.  It was here I saw my first roadrunner and thought-coyote chased after THAT all those years? At the end of some long days, we would head towards this great little bar on the base. Above the great little bar we would, like so many others before us, leave a record of our time here-official mission name, some silly nickname, and our own names. The two I was here for got nicknamed “Who’s got the clue?” and “What’s in the box?”(Doom). Well, when I checked in I found that the club and the pool were taken down when the base downsized in the 90’s, coincidentally the same time my old career field died. There’s still lots of training on the range, but Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field is a bit of a ghost town. Time to move on.