Saguaro National Park

Visiting Saguaro National Park is perfect for a comfortable, leisurely visit to a national park. Lying to the east, and west, of Tucson, you can get to the park in 30-60 minutes depending on where you’re going. With an international airport, a state university, and its southwest influences, Tucson offers an enjoyable stay filled with all the activities you want. And for national park nerds like me, having the park so accessible is just the icing on top.

The Saguaro is exactly the cactus I picture when I think of cacti. These bad boys can grow to be over 40 feet tall, and live to be over 150 years old. Some of them never grow any arms, while others begin to grow their first arm around age 75-100. They may grow a handful of arms, and at times they appear to be dancing or putting their dukes up.

One of the signs related the Saguaro to the apartment building of the desert “community”, as it serves as a source of food and water, and especially shelter, as owls and woodpeckers create holes to burrow into the cactus. As they vacate, other birds and lizards take over the dens as their own. I came out here expecting those wild and colorful Sonoran sunsets, and the only evening I made it out got skunked by an incoming storm. Guess I’ll just need to come back?