I had recently been to Tucson on a long overnight with a pretty awesome crew. While we were there we talked about how great it would be to rent a car and drive a few miles east to the east side of Saguaro National Park to do a hike.
The next week while I was on reserve, I was able to self-assign a trip that J was able to trade into as well. And we had 19 hours in Tucson.
We rented a car.
I found this great map on the National Parks website for hiking in East Saguaro (I'm glad I had the foresight to print it before I left because they don't have maps unless you go to the main visitor's center).
The Deer Valley Loop seemed to have it all. So that is what we did. 4.1 miles round trip, 2.5 hours of hiking (even with all of the stops for photos, and to chat with a donkey named Peaches...didn't catch the rider's name).
We saw javelinas, saguaro forests, washes, a cristate, and mesquite trees to start. Eerily beautiful landscape, and surprising as well: I had no idea how many saguaros there would actually be!
Take our hike with us; photos below...enjoy!
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| These were my fuzzy little tree-bush things. Possibly my favorite! |
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| Close-up of the beautiful saguaro's spines. |
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| Pattern of the spines. |
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| Enlarge this photo...the amount of saguaros will blow you away. |
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| Another cactus-ful picture! |
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| For a different kind of cactus. |
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| Hiking in the wash. Those are mesquite trees all around us |
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| J in the rugged landscape. |
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| A leaved and spined plant. |
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| Fancy photo of saguaros in the sunrise. |
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| Here is J to give us some perspective on their size. |
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| Me, imitating nature. |
-TJ
