Revisiting Saguaro National Park



Saguaro National Park is a wonderland of desert scrub and mountain conifers.
 

Yesterday, Keith and I revisited a favorite place in Tucson---Saguaro National Park.  The park is split into two units--one on the west side of the city amid the Tucson Mountains and the other on the east side nestled against the Rincon Mountains.  The east unit of the park is only a few minutes from our home and makes for a nice diversion.  The west unit is a bit further, not far from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and Tucson Mountain Park.  Both units protect huge stands of saguaro cacti called cacti forests.   Here you can see hundreds of the tall desert sentinels towering above cholla, mesquite, creosote and palo verde trees as they have done for thousands of years.   Many specimens are at least 100 years old and sport several "arms".  Amid the forest, if you are lucky, you can find rare crested saguaros.

The park also protects cultural elements including old pottery shards from ancient pueblo people, and the remains of mines and an old homestead.  Rock art in the form of petroglyphs and pictographs is  found in the Tucson area.  Saguaro National Park protects mostly petroglyphs--images incised, pecked, abraded or carved into rock.  (By contrast, pictographs are painted onto rock.)  Scientists attribute the petroglyphs to Hohokam people who lived in the area between 300 and 1450 A.D. 

Although most visitors usually only explore the desert biotic community, the park encompasses five others:  grassland, oak woodland, pine-oak woodland, pine forest, and mixed conifer forest.  Elevation ranges from 2,100 feet in the west unit's desert scrub to 8,600 feet at the top of the Rincon mountains in the east unit.  These mountains are home to black bear and Mexican spotted owl.

Our visit yesterday was to the east unit of the park.  We searched for wildflowers, finding only six species in bloom:  desert wallflower, panamint, rattlesnake weed, rancher's fireweed, fairy duster, and scorpion weed.  We found signs of several other species that were close to blossoming; late next week should see a much more colorful display.

We enjoyed hiking along a few trails in the park, including one that took us to the old Freeman homestead.  Not much is left of the ranch which supported a large family in the 1930's.  A mound of dirt is sole testimony to the presence of a house.  Concrete remains of an old well flank a wide wash skirting the property along a large rock formation.

The weather for our outing was absolutely beautiful, if not a bit windy.  We spent several hours gazing at vast hillsides of the park's namesake and contemplating serene mountain vistas.  The visit reminded us how thankful we are that our ancestors set aside special places like this so that future generations can enjoy them.





A saguaro's skeleton.