Saguaro National Park

Saguaro National Park

Saguaro National Park is divided into two parts on either side of Tucson. We started on the West side taking a road that dips up and down while traversing the Sonora Desert. The visitor center had an interesting film on the area. According to the film, the Native Americans believe that Saguaro are their ancestors and thus need to be well treated. The film ends with the screen lifting and there is the desert before you. We also took the loop road through the park, but didn’t have time for any of the hikes. 

Sleeping Mountain Lion

The highlight of the day was the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum in the Tucson Mountain Park. Museum doesn’t seem quite the right term – most of the museum was outdoors, a mixture of a botanical garden and zoo with some geology mixed in. Everything we saw was part of the desert: lizards and snakes, tarantulas, the cats of the desert, coyotes, javelins, desert sheep, birds, bats, and frogs and toads. Of course, there were lots of cacti, trees, and bushes (a repeat of the Desert botanical park), and then a section on the geology of Arizona – the geological history, and the story of caves in the area. We easily spent 2 hours and could have spent more time – we skipped the section on hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. 

Desert Garden

Then we headed to Mission Xavier del Bac, established by the Spanish in this area in 1692 and still serving the Native American Community. Finally, we took the loop road on the East side of the National Park. We did this quickly because it began to rain. Quite an interesting and packed day. We didn’t have time to do the Sky Island Scenic drive because it was beginning to get dark. I clearly tried to pack too much into one day. 

Mission Xavier del Bac