· exploring · map · national park · Saguaro NP
We visited Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona.
In fact, it’d be more accurate to say that this park surrounds Tucson. It is split into two parts, west and east, on either side of the city. Here’s a map from the NPS site:
The Google map better shows Tucson between the two parts of the park:
We visited both parts, starting with the east one. Here’s the entrance road; a not very clear picture of the Saguaro National Park sign:
A fairly small visitor center:
Outside the visitor center was a nice botanical garden; we had a picnic lunch in a shelter near the garden:
An info sign, showing a map of the one-way loop road in the park:
We drove the loop road. A warning to “brake now” before a steep hill:
Curvy road:
Lots of interesting cacti to see:
The road was popular with bicyclists:
A stop at Javelina Rocks:
We passed through Tucson to the west part of the park:
It has a larger visitor center:
Info sign:
We were amused by the “sus picnic ground”:
The visiter center bookstore was limited to 10 people at a time (but no masks required), with numbered tickets for entry:
A cacti forest and hills behind the visitor center:
While we waited for our turn, we walked along a path behind the visitor center:
Tomorrow, a timelapse video of driving through both parts of the park. (Actually, it’s live now; if you’re a subscriber to the YouTube channel, you would have been notified as a sneak peek.)