With this being our last day in Tucson, we decided to visit Saguaro National Park. Saguaro NP is split in two sections, a western and eastern park. The western park is only a few miles from where we are staying, so we decided to visit it first. After exploring the exhibits in the visitor center, we watched the park film, visited the shop and collected our 67th Passport Stamp. We toured the 6 mile scenic drive in the western portion of the park, then headed over to the eastern portion. Along the way we stopped for a Mexican Sunday fix for lunch. In the eastern portion park we drove the 9 mile scenic drive and then hiked up the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail for a mile before the fading daylight made us turn back (2.1 miles, 459 Feet of elevation gain, 677 calories burned). The western portion of the park is more lush and rugged than the eastern potion. But the eastern portion of the park is larger and has taller mountains (including some alpine areas), but the majority is set aside as a wilderness area with limited access. This is the last national park unit we expect to visit this year. It has been a busy and fun year. At the end of this year, we have visited 60 out of the145 National Parks and National Monuments. To celebrate, we went to a brewery and enjoyed a couple of good craft beers!
 |
| Saguaro NP Entrance Sign |
 |
| Rugged terrain of the western sector |
 |
| Saguaro Row |
 |
| Behemoth in the desert |
 |
| Cactus Cross |
 |
| Cactus Hill |
 |
| Desert Stream |
 |
| Tucson Valley |
No comments:
Post a Comment