Saguaro Ntnl Park
As it turns out, Saguaro is divided into two sections. Today, we adventured into the Western portion of the park (West of Tuscon) with less than an 80 mile drive round trip. The park is very small in comparison to most other parks, but I still found it worth the half-day visit.
I knew nothing about the park upon arrival… asking myself, “what is the primary thing about Saguaro that makes it a National Park?”. Yosemite has the valley, half-dome, and more. Yellowstone has Ol’ Faithful, Bison, and wolves. Rocky Mountain has the peaks and the Elk. Death Valley had the lowest place in the continent. So what makes Saguaro special? There are cactus all over Arizona, and some very large ones even off the interstate and other hi-ways…
As we arrived in the park and began driving up the small road riddled with dips (it felt like a child’s roller coaster!) we quickly realized that this place was different from the parts of Arizona we had already seen. The volume of cacti of every shape and size was not imaginable. From the little guys that you expect, to 50+ foot high Saguaro (hence, the name of the park) and everything in between. To simply walk an already heavily used trail meant keeping an eye on all your extremities and even dodging the occasional cactus that reaches into your path to cop a feel on ya. It was nearly impossible to move without a prick from time to time.
At the visitors center we learned that the Saguaro cactus takes 75 to 100 years to *begin* growing branches. Ones with multiple branches are 200 years old or more. It had never dawned on me that a cactus would have a wood skeleton inside… I don’t know why… it just never did. These skeletons are pretty amazing on their own, but when you see them standing there, just as tall as their live counterparts, it is quite eerie. They reminded me of the dead pirates in that Disney movie with what’s-his-name (Jack Sparrow… Captain Jack Sparrow, sorry). Some would even have some “skin” remaining near it’s trunk as a reminder that it was once a living thing and had been around for hundreds of years.
Though I tried, I still have not run across a rattle snake. Maybe tomorrow…
