Apr 29, 2013 - Ouch!!!!

Another journal problem, so very few pics tonight. Another journey into the unplanned. We took the trailer to Tucson for some maintenance and they were backed up so we needed a place to spend some time and what better place than Saguaro National Park. The colors were brighter and much more vibrant than on our previous trips. Not only that, but the Saguaro bloom is really marching toward full. We took lots of pictures, but our camera just doesn't capture the desert colors. Shortly after we passed the halfway point of the loop we were...

Apr 20, 2013 - Flowers in Thorns

Another wow day !! As a child I was always fascinated by Saguaro cactus when I saw them on the westerns on TV and in the movies. We simply don't have them on the east coast, and I now know that they grow only in the Sonoran desert of Arizona, a couple of spots in California and the Mexican state of Sonora. There's today's geography lesson. After spending the day in Saguaro National Park, I've now seen a gazillion or more and I'm still fascinated. To see such a plant reaching heights as high as 70 feet was amazing. Each plant was unique and...

Apr 14, 2013 - Saguaro National Park

Sam was up before dawn to get sunrise pictures. The cactus—some variety of cholla, I think—looks like it is lit from within with the sun shining through that halo of thorns. After a leisurely breakfast, we drove out to Saguaro National Park for a program on desert plants. The ranger who led it managed to be both informative and entertaining—a really pleasant combination. I got started on another sketch (saguaro cactus that I hope to finish this evening). And we found that the cactus we were seeing backlit by the sun is Chain Fruit Cholla....

Mar 6, 2012 - Saguaro National Park

We had a wonderful day exploring the Saguaro National Park and other parts of Tucson. The park is made up of two districts, Saguaro West on the west side of Tucson, and Saguaro East, east of the city. The two districts are about thirty miles apart, and together encompass over 91,000 acres. Both districts have visitor centers, scenic drives, trails, and picnic areas. We visited Saguaro West. Saguaro West, called the Tucson Mountain District locally, is 15 miles west of downtown Tucson and includes the Red Hills Visitor Center, the six mile...

Jan 18, 2012 - Saguaro National Park, AZ

After a quite night in Deming, New Mexico with only the occasional Union Pacific train to accompany our dreams we headed out early. On the road before 7am. Another cool night with temps somewhere in the 20s. We made excellent time and before we knew it we were approaching Tucson and Saguaro National Park. The park is very close to Tucson but on the other side of a large mountain range. We turned off the freeway and within half a mile we were amidst vast forest of Saguaro (suh-wah-ro) cacti. We had seen these occasionally along the road in...

Jan 8, 2012 - Moon Take Night Make Day hike in Saguaro National Park

We took one of our favorite ranger-led hikes in Saguaro National Park with our friends, Bill and Lois. They're the reason we investigated spending time in Tucson since they've been coming here for many years. Bill and Lois were our children's fourth grade teachers and Eileen later worked in their classrooms.

Dec 31, 2010 - New Years Eve In Sabino Canyon

Just seems to be something very wrong with an alarm clock going of at 7:00 AM when your retired, but today was once again hiking day and we had to be up and at 'em! Fortunately I had put some water back in the fresh water tank yesterday, as low and behold not only was it early but the water hose was frozen! It didn't take long to get our act together and we were soon following the rest of the crew down I-5 towards Tucson and the Sabino Canyon Recreational area. On the way down I thought I had spotted some snow in the mountains off to the...

Dec 24, 2010 - Christmas Eve in The Desert

Once again the week has been pretty uneventful, no trips to either Phoenix or Tucson, but we did hit the Casa Grande Outlet Mall once. Monday and Wednesday once again were Race Days at the Palm Creek Off Road Raceway, Monday we had about 18 guys out, Wednesday we were down to 10. Not sure if I'm getting better or what, but even managed to win a few races, I really don't think the fact that everybody else was either on their roof or out of battery juice had anything to do with it at all! Friday rolled around bringing hiking day with it,...

Apr 17, 2010 - Saguaro National Park East

It was a hot beautiful sunny day as we drove the 8 mile drive through the park. We saw many bright colors like the brittlebush dominating the edge of the road along with prickly pear cacti and saguaro just "hanging out" in the forest. The park ranger warned out that the Gila monsters were out and running on the roads. Herb saw one as he drove. I got a photo of one in the visitor park. It was only 6 inches long black body with patterns of brown. After getting back to the campground we attended a campground dinner in the club house where...

Oct 21, 2009 - Our visit to Sagurao National Park

Perhaps some may not consider desert to be beautiful, but the flora and fauna found in Saguaro National Park is absolutely beautiful. And that at a point in time when the flora is not in bloom. One can only imagine some of these photos when the blooms are on. We traversed the Baja Loop and across the park from west to east. This is not a large park but really stunning. For those who may not know, this park is located west of Tuscon, AZ.

Oct 20, 2009 - Titan Missile Museum, Saguaro Natl Park

We drove a large loop today in the Jeep seeing sights along the way. Our first stop was the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson. This has got to be the BEST tour we have been on and we highly recommend it to anyone visiting this area. The tour starts with a film with background information on the cold war explaining why the missiles existed. All sites except this one have been destroyed and the roof above the missile has to stay open so that other countries can use satellites to see that it is disabled. We got to go down into the missile...

Oct 15, 2009 - Saguaro National Park, Arizona

October 15th Today we left Las Cruces, New Mexico heading west on I-10 toward California. We are staying the night in Picacho, Arizona just west of Tucson. In route we visited Saguaro National Park. Saguaro cactus only grows in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. This desert receives less than 12inches of rainfall a year along with summer temperatures that commonly exceed 100 degrees during the day. These giant cactus sprout from seeds and if they survive the first year they measure only ¼ of an inch. After 15 years they may only be 12 inches tall....