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Early morning, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I'm sitting in the cab of my pickup in the parking lot at Quitobaquito Springs, sipping coffee. Beyond my windshield four strands of barbed wire mark the boundary between the United States and Mexico. On the other side, big trucks rumble east and west on Mexican Highway 2. Mexican motorists can see the tall cottonwoods clustered around the Quitobaquito oasis, but the fence stops them from coming across to rest in the shade. It wasn't always so. Weary desert travelers have sought respite at this refuge for centuries. Three hundred years ago, doughty Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino may have been the first white man to stop here.

For 19th-century gold rushers, Quitobaquito, “house-ring spring” in the language of the Tohono O'odham, was the last place to find dependable water before they set out toward California on the infamous El Camino del Diablo (See “The Devil's Highway,” page 4). Now, fence jumpers, Mexicans on their way north seeking work, are the only people to use Quitobaquito as an oasis.

How do you hike an oasis? You don't. Instead you wander, stroll, meander, amble, and, somewhere along the way if you're lucky you find a good spot in the shade to spread a blanket and nap.

I meander around the big pond. Park service signs put out for the edification of visitors tell me what I'm seeing. A small group of coots swims in the quiet waters on this day in late fall, but a placard informs me that seasonal migrations bring a parade of birds: ducks, grebes, herons, wood ibises, killdeer, flycatchers, orioles, and more.

AMBLE AROUND QUITOBAQUITO, ANCIENT OASIS IN THE SONORAN DESERT

Quitobaquito Springs rises on a nearby hillside to run through ditches and pipes into the pond. Three other springs flow in the Quitobaquito Hills, where underground water slams against impermeable rock along a fault line running northwest to southeast and rises to the surface.

The map shows Burro and Williams springs a short distance northwest of Quitobaquito, and, feeling the need to add some exercise to what's been a slow-motion program, I decide to strike out cross-country to find them.

Immediately I'm stopped by golden bursts of flowery bushes strung along a small wash. It's jackass clover, clover in name only, and a plant that prefers sandy alkaline soils. Beautiful but baneful to livestock, jackass clover is cursed by cattlemen. But the day is chilly and gray, so I'm grateful for any change of color in the terrain.

Wandering about a mile across the desert, I spot a hardy clump of greenery in a hillside niche. Walking closer I find seep willows, mesquites, ironwoods, paloverdes, and bulrushes, too. Another spring. There's little water on the surface, and the soil around is chalky with mineral salts, but bird and animal tracks in the soft ground show it's a watering hole nonetheless. I've found Burro Spring, I guess, so I roam farther west in the direction of Williams Spring, but find nothing.

WHEN YOU GO

Visitors to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument must check in at monument headquarters, approximately five miles north of Lukeville off State Route 85, and pay a daily fee. Information on road conditions, trail access, trail maintenance, and special conditions may be obtained there.

The best times to hike anywhere in Organ Pipe are spring, fall, and winter. Only very experienced desert hikers should attempt summer hiking. Always carry plenty of water. An absolute minimum for desert hiking is one quart per person a gallon in hot, dry weather.

The map shows a trail from the parking area to Williams Spring, so I decide to return and try the sure-thing route later. On the way back, I make a game of following deer trails. Will the animals show me the best route across the desert, skirting thickets of cholla, avoiding the rough passages through washes? Or is this a time to trust my own pathfinding instincts?

The deer win, a foregone conclusion, I suppose. Following routes I've scoped out, I frequently find myself scrambling over rough places to get through a wash or backtracking to find another way. But then the deer have an advantage: this is their oasis.