Tucson is home to the the the Saguaro National Park and the city itself divides the park into two sections, one east of town and the other west of town. It is named after the large saguaro cactus, found in higher desert environments.
It has been a long tome since we have visited the eastern part of the park known as the Rincon Mountain District. Entry into the park is $25 per vehicle but we use our America the Beautiful Pass for free entry. This lifetime pass for seniors is a true money saver!
In this section of the park there is an 8.3 mile loop drive on Cactus Forest Drive. This road is mostly an unpaved dirt road so be forewarned. Although it is rough in a few spots it is still easily navigable by normal cars and our Honda CRV had no problem..
The Saguaro National Park encompasses 92,000 acres. Typical of Sonoran Desert landscapes this park has a high density of the giant saguaro cactus. The park also has overs 165 miles of trails. While we did little hiking in the park this year we did do a few strolls at pull outs along the loop drive.
The drive was beautiful as some of the giant saguaro cacti were beginning to bloom and the various species of cane cholla cactus were in bloom as well (yellow, orange and red). Spring is always a good time to see the plants blooming and with the wet winter this area had (including some snow this year) the desert was pretty green.
While driving amongst the large cactus is fun, hiking in them is better. So on another day we revisited one of our favorite short hikes near Tucson. The trail is called the Hidden Canyon Trail and it can be combined with other trails making a hike with a choice of lengths.
We added a small piece of trail to it to make our hike less than 3 miles, There is a steady climb initially but not too much elevation. The steady climb had us looking forward to the saddle as well as the views it provided. As we mentioned the last time we hiked this trail the density of Saguaro Cacti is this area is amazing!
The trail is a fairly narrow and mostly rocky trial but is nothing more than a low moderate rated hike. There were a few saguaros sporting buds but since it is higher here that in the national park they weren’t blooming yet. However,we were able to find a few sparse blooming spring beauties..
This is a great place to hike near a huge resort hotel and the best thing, besides the scenery, was that there was no charge for entry or for parking.
With only one more day in Tucson we were glad to be able to revisit these two beautiful places.
I think the cactus blooms are more colorful than those of the wildflowers. But they don't get the top billing. The saguaro are majestic examples of life in the desert.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels as you move on.
Coincidently, when I flipped my National Parks calendar to May this morning, this month's photo was of Saguaro NP during the spring bloom. Love your pics - looks like you visited at a perfect time.
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