Saguaro National Park – East (Rincon Mountain District)

The Saguaro National Park is interesting in that it consists of two pieces – the Rincon Mountain District to the east and the Tucson Mountain District to the west. The city of Tucson sits in the middle and, based on traffic, it may be upwards of 30 – 60 minutes to get from one side of the park to the other. As we drove south from Window Rock, AZ, we decided to try and get a hike in on the east side and then tackle the west side the following day.

The East Side – Rincon Mountain District is much larger and has about 128 miles of trails on it – we only explored about 4 miles, hiking the tiny Desert Ecology Trail and part of the Squeeze Pen Trail. There are several much longer trails with backcountry campsites that need to be saved for next time!

Mature Saguaro can be 60′ – 75′ tall and over 150 years old. Initially growing about an inch a year, they sprout “arms” around 50 – 70 years old – some never sprout arms …
Barrel Cactus, Prickly Pear Cactus and Saguaro on Squeeze Pen Trail with the Rincon Mountains and Tanque Verde Peak in the background.
“Put that damn phone down.”

As the plants and geological features of this desert are so much different that the Great Basin Desert that we have closer to us, it was fascinating to see so many different kinds of cactus.

We did see a Roadrunner scoot around the corner on the first trail but aside from a few Gila Woodpeckers seen later in the trip, the native wildlife remained well- hidden and elusive.

The Cactus Forest Loop took us out of the park and back on the road to our hotel in Green Valley.

Tony is a big deal all the way out West in Tucson!
The shower ensemble consisted of about 3 different handles, spouts and showerheads – made very confusing by the sign above that didn’t match the current fixtures!

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