Coming from the parking lot, the Kris Eggle Visitor Center is a light gray, one story building in modernist/international style. To the left of the front visitor center door is a planter box with various small cacti and one large organ pipe cactus. To the right of the visitor center door are benches and another planter that wraps around the side of the building, filled with various native cacti and shrubs. On the right corner of the visitor center is a large organ pipe cactus and a memorial stone. On the stone is a plaque commemorating Kris Eggle, a NPS law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in 2002. Bathroom units are attached to the northern side of the visitor center. When you enter the Visitor Center, there is a ranger desk and cash register to the right. On the left side is the Western National Parks Association Store with several standing shelves and shelves covering the walls. A large topography map of the park stands alone. Deeper into the visitor center is a large auditorium where rangers will play the park film, and the exhibit hall. The exhibit hall is divided by the seasons starting with dry summers, wet monsoon summers, fall, winter and spring. Each section has a visual and descriptive display, plus a tactile exhibit associated with that season. For instance, in the spring exhibit features the many wildflowers that bloom during this season and there is a 'smell exhibit' where visitors can smell different iconic scents of the desert. The winter section talks about the various activities that the native people, the Tohono O'odham, engage in during the winter. There are examples of baskets and a mortero and pestle (grinding stone and grinding 'bowl.'). The fall section talks about the ranching history of the park and includes examples of cattle brands used by some of the local ranchers. The monsoon/wet summer section has a light-up magnifying glass that gives visitors a closer look at a moth, scorpion, and wildlife scat, and describes the desert life and greenery that emerges following the monsoon storms. The dry summer exhibit describes some of the wildlife of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, particularly the Gila Monster. There are three tactile circles that allows you to "feel" the skin of a Gila monster, see what Gila monster eggs look like, and hear the sound of cicadas. In the corner of the exhibit hall is a diorama of a pack rat nest. In the center of the exhibit hall is a diorama of a desert community, with a saguaro as the centerpiece and wildlife surrounding it like a jackrabbit, quail and small mammals. The back door of the visitor leads out to a paved, uncovered patio area where rangers deliver patio talks to visitors sitting on rows of benches. The trail continues past a small pond that hosts endangered Quitobaquito pupfish (a small fish; the males turn a bright blue during mating season). Mesquite trees hover above and around the pond. The Visitor Center Nature Trail continues around the back of the visitor center and through the desert, with the view of the Ajo Mountains in the distance. The trail weaves through examples of different cacti, with several interpretive signs along the way. The trail ends at the southern end of the visitor center, near the monument for Kris Eggle.

Kris Eggle Visitor Center includes an information desk, nature trail, exhibit hall, 15 minute film, and a bookstore.

A grayish, brown one story building with planters surrounding the front and an American flag outside

Kris Eggle Visitor Center

Woman in a mobility scooter and a man walk down a paved trail in the desert

Visitor Center Nature Trail

A female ranger guides three children in taking the junior ranger pledge.

Junior Ranger Program

Occupancy will be limited to 8 people including staff.

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Circular passport stamp with the text "Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Ajo, AZ" and the date.

Get your passport stamped at Organ Pipe!

The passport stamp is located inside the Kris Eggle Visitor Center. To minimize COVID-19 transmission, only rangers will be stamping passports. To receive a passport stamp, please ask a ranger at the visitor center front desk.

Look closely. Look again. The sights and sounds of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an International Biosphere Reserve, reveal a thriving community of plants and animals. Human stories echo throughout this desert preserve, chronicling thousands of years of desert living. A scenic drive, wilderness hike or a night of camping will expose you to a living desert that thrives.