Saguaro National Park
2022.01.16 + 2022.01.19
Established in 1994 as the 52nd park in the county. Know for the… Saguaro Cactus… it protects nearly 1.5 million giant cacti. There are two different sections to this park on the western and eastern sides of Tucson which gives an iconic western feel.
When I first made my way into the eastern side of the park I was extremely excited to be out and active again after receiving a negative COVID test. I knew the park was extremely close to Tucson, but I was a bit surprised when I first saw it was basically in the town. But it was a perfect way to get me back outdoors with a causal one way drive around the city followed by a hike around their nature trails. These cacti were bigger in person than these photos were showing and I think that is cool.
I met two different couples on this outing. The first was a couple from Ohio who bought a van but are waiting for it to be built out! They got a view from the roof deck of Vincent and seemed even more excited be able to travel with theirs. I also got to meet a couple who owned a 2018 version of Vincent. It was a bit unreal seeing both vans parked to each other.
A few days later I decided to check out the western portion of the park since it was describe as being more rustic, which sounded like my style.
The hiking on this side was incredible! I went on a 7 mile loop up and around one of the hills by piecing together random trails. I’m still not used to being in mountains (Wisconsin only has a few hills) so when I got to the highest point of the day it felt daunting seeing off in all directions.
