Today is the first of two days at Saguaro National Park. Saguaro National Park has two sections. One is on the east side of Tucson, Arizona. The other is about 25 miles away on the west side of Tucson.
We began on the east side at the Mica View Cactus Forest Trail. The trail is well named. It really is a forest of cactus. Because of their size, the Saguaro dominate the landscape. There are numerous varieties of cactus beyond the Saguaro. Part of our hike was along a dry riverbed. We are definitely in the desert. The sun is warm, the air is dry, and yet it is amazingly green.
A wider view of the desert provides a new way to experience it.
With this 360 degree panorama, you can experience the same wide desert view close up and personal. Use your mouse to control the speed, direction, and level of detail.
Our second hike of the day was the Freeman Homestead Trail. This area and trail were more what we originally expected. Still, the abundance of vegetation and color was surprising.
There were some rocky places along the Freeman Homestead Trail, but there was very little bare ground other than the rocky areas. We saw one of the tallest Saguaro on this trail. According to what we have read, this one must be approaching 200 years old because it was close to fifty feet tall.
After the Freeman Homestead trail, we did two short hikes. The first was the Cactus Garden and Desert Wash Trail.
The second hike was the Desert Discovery Nature Trail. Both hikes were near the Red Hills Visitor Center.
Our next hike was slightly longer. We drove over some dirt roads, past an interesting balanced rock, to the The Valley View Overlook Trail. The trail leads you to an overlook about 250 foot above the surrounding valley. The views of the broad valley are magnificent.
We got to drive over some more dirt roads to the last hike of the day at Signal Hill. It is a short, but steep, hike to the top of the hill. There are two reasons to make this hike. First, there are some petroglyphs at the top. Second, we got another view of the valley from a different perspective.
After our last hike, we made the 25 mile drive to the west side of Tucson so that we would be ready for the second half of Saguaro National Park tomorrow.