Saguaro National Park (west side)

 February 18, 2021

Today we explored Saguaro National Park, west side.  Saguaro is split into two separate areas, today we went to the Red Hills Visitor center in the west section.

The saguaro cactus are everywhere.

"The Sonoran Desert can be described as a "desert jungle" because more than 200 species of animals and 600 species of plants live here. Saguaros with their branching arms and accordion-like pleats dominate this scene. Intermixed with these cacti are other common plants such as teddy bear chollas, creosote bushes, and ocotillos."

Here is the view from the visitor center.  We chatted with a ranger and set a plan to drive the scenic Bajada Loop Drive, hike the Sendero Esperanza Trail and the Signal Hill Trail.

Off we go on the unpaved Bajada Loop Drive, it was graded but a little rough.

Mountains and cactus views.

"Sendero Esperanza Trail (Hope Trail in Spanish) follows the sandy path of an old mine road through the saguaro forest for the first mile. The trail then switchbacks to the Hugh Norris Trail, where visitors can enjoy spectacular panoramic views of the park."

This saguaro cactus grew it's own crown.

"tall saguaros with many branching arms can be 175 or 200 years of age. Known as "ancient giants," these cacti eventually die, decay, and drop woody, internal skeletons to the ground."

Jim hiking the trail.

Mountain views

Not sure what to call these 2 cactus

All smiles on this sunny day.

Prickly pear cactus are also here, but no fruit at this time of year.

Now and again the trail gets rocky, these rocks seemed to rise out of the sands to trip you up.

This cactus was one of the tallest we have seen.

"The oldest saguaros may weigh more than 7 tons and grow taller than a four-story building."

These guys are having a dance party.

After the hike we stopped at a picnic area for lunch. 

This shelter felt like the flintstones house.

It was cold sitting on the benches so I opted for the sun soaked window sill.

Jim sat in the other window seat.  Note the ceiling is made up of the woody insides of the saguaro.

This crazy octopus was part of our lunch view.

I saw this building at the other side of the picnic area and decided to check it out.

Oops, found a ranger sealing up the 1930's bathroom.  Hey everything can't be terrific.

We drove over to signal hill area after lunch.

Here we found numerous petroglyphs.

"The rock art found within Saguaro National Park was created by the prehistoric Hohokam people. They may have pecked these petroglyphs more than a thousand years ago while on hunting and gathering expeditions." 

"We do not know what these petroglyphs mean. They could have religious or ceremonial significance. They may be solstice markers, clan symbols, decorative motifs, or simply

ancient graffiti."

"Petroglyphs at Signal Hill conform to the distinctive Hohokam style. In Tucson, abstract designs outnumber life forms at most sites. "

But these look like animals, perhaps a hunting area,

" Human stick figures, game animals, dogs, lizards, snakes and geometric shapes are frequently portrayed."

The area surrounding the petroglyphs.

We drove thru the north side of the park on our way back.

Nice views there as well.

And tonight while I put together the blog, Jim is cooking up Sausage and Pepper Pasta. 

It smells delicious.