Flowering Barrel Cacti

Reaching the first plateau

In all the many years I've been hiking in the American Southwest--primarily in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts--I have never discovered an area more densely populated by Barrel Cacti than the stretch of Sierra Vista Trail between Dripping Springs Road and Soledad Canyon Road in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument.  I guess conditions are just right for this type of Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizeni), which is also called Southwestern Barrel Cactus, Candy Barrel Cactus, Arizona Barrel Cactus and
Biznaga-barril de Nuevo México.  Apparently its conservation status is "Vulnerable," but you'd never know it from this particular location in the Chihuahuan Desert, which has a very rocky, gravelly, and perhaps slightly acidic soil at an elevation of between 4,000 and 4500 feet.  The cactus has a lifespan of between 50 and 100 years, and is sometimes called the "Compass Barrel" because particular specimens lean to the south (as is evident by some of the images toward the end of this post).  If you ever visit southern New Mexico in late July through August make a point of hiking the Sierra Vista Trail (Norte) to behold these spectacular Fishhook Barrel Cacti.

Four vehicles plus our Jeep in the parking lot

Organ Mountains

Looking northeast at the Organs

Ocotillos

All of the flower shots are of Fishhook Barrel Cacti

Becca and Dr. K

Becca on break

This and the next 3: shots of the Ocotillo forest

Whitethorn Acacia and the Organ Mountains

A barrel of laughs

Dr. K beside the same barrel

Sierra Vista Trail looking south

Another Cactus Bee

Remnants of a long-gone Barrel Cactus