Saguaro Pictures - Enjoy Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park is split into 2 sections and effectively surrounds Tucson, Arizona. The park’s 2 districts cover around 500 square miles and sits in the heart of the Sonoran desert. While there are a variety of reasons for visiting Saguaro National Park including short hikes, wilderness hikes, and backcountry camping, our primary focus was for viewing the Tucson Mountain District which is the home to the giant saguaro cactus. These giant saguaros can live up to 250 years, and if your timing is right you may see their flowers in bloom (typically between late May and July).
General logistics information.
There are multiple entry point into the Saguaro National Park districts and multiple options to reach the parks, based on the proximity to Tucson. There is no lodging inside the park and no food options. Based on our travel plans, we only had 1 day to spend at Saguaro National Park, so this post will review the highlights of our visit. Of course, if you have more time there is much more to explore in the park. However, if you only have a limited time as we did, the guidance below will give you a taste of the saguaro forest and some beautiful desert scenery.
Note: I have also provided information on the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This is located about 12 miles from Tucson on N. Kinney Road. I highly recommend this additional stop to get some excellent education on the Sonora Desert. As a bonus, they actually have a restaurant, a café, and a snack bar.
Saguaro Pictures and Activities.
- Our first stop for this day was actually located outside of the official boundaries of Saguaro National Park. This is called the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
- The museum is more of a zoo plus museum plus botanical garden.
- Here you walk through an interesting landscape of a lush desert habitat, on a very up close basis, and get a taste of the overall ecology of the Sonoran Desert.
- There are many exhibits that will give you information on lots of topics regarding the Sonoran Desert.
- Then there are the animals. They are kept in safe, natural, accessible environments for you to observe.
- Species include Sonoran birds of prey, beavers, river otters, reptiles, and certainly last but not least, the regions wild cats.
- As always, we believe it is a must to stop at the Visitor’s Center when visiting any National Park. Check out the gift shop, watch an informative slide show on the park, get questions answered from one of the rangers, and review some of their exhibits. There is a Visitor’s Center in each of the 2 districts of Saguaro National Park.
- There is a nice Cactus Garden Trail right at the Red Hills Visitor Center that takes you through a variety of different cacti plants where you can start to take some great Saguaro pictures.
- Our plan was to drive the 9 mile Bajada Loop drive, taking advantage of roadside pullout stops and also taking a few hikes to get a more up close look at the forest of giant saguaros.
- We started out by hiking the short Desert Discovery trail which is only about .5 miles and is located approximately 1 mile southwest of the Red Hills Visitor Center.
- Along this trial you will see native plants of the Sonoran Desert and may see some wildlife.
- The final stop was Valley View Overlook trail.
- This trail is about 1 mile and is located on Hohokam Road.
- The trail winds up to a ridge giving you panoramic views of the rugged, cactus filled landscape that surrounds you.
- This vantage point in, addition to the trail itself, provides the best opportunity for the quintessential Saguaro pictures.
- With other travels and personal commitments ahead of us, this was all the time we were able to spend in the area of Saguaro National Park. The uniqueness of this park and the beauty of the giant saguaros made it a worthwhile visit.
