Cross-Country Road Trip (Part 2 – Saguaro NP)

Last stop before San Diego! We stayed the night in Tucson, Arizona, and headed to Saguaro National Park in the morning before it got too hot. It is oppressively hot here… 100 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day! I’ve been to Saguaro NP before with my parents and sister many years ago. I was very excited to see the Saguaro cacti and other desert plants; I’m a huge fan of plants and find the different types fascinating. As a FYI, we only explored the western part of the park. Saguaro NP is split up into two sides, with the city of Tucson in the middle.

We knew that we weren’t going to spend the whole day at the park since it is so hot here, so we headed over as soon as the visitor center opened at 9 AM. We watched the “orientation” video as an introduction to the park; it ends in the window shades opening up to reveal the gorgeous desert scenery outside! I learned that Saguaro cacti can live for up to 200 years, and mainly die of old age (outside of damage such as lightening or other weather conditions).

Can you spot the little creature in this picture?

We also learned that the Saguaro cactus blooms for just 24 hours (we were so happy we got to see the beautiful white blooms!), and they flower/turn into fruit during late June. We saw some fruit littered on the ground, with many of the inside seeds eaten already by animals. It smelled pleasant; wish we got to try some!

Some of the other very common species found in this park were the fishhook barrel cactus, the prickly pear cactus, the teddy bear cholla, and the pencil cholla. We also stopped by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where they had some other species outside (we didn’t feel like paying $20 to go in).