Friday, April 02, 2010

Saguaro National Park

After leaving Chiricahua National Monument it was a short drive to Saguaro National Park near Tucson. There are actually two “sections” to this park, East and West, and I stopped for a few hours in the East side park. There is no campground at Saguaro and I was concerned about finding a place to stay for the night. There are trails to hike but I figured I was going to get plenty of desert hiking done at Joshua Tree and Death Valley, so for me, this was a “drive-through” park, something I said I wasn't going to do...

I stopped at the Visitor Center to watch the park video and get their map and then took the driving tour on the loop road. At one stop I noticed a rather large Saguaro a short distance from the road. So with a bottle of water and the camera in hand, I walked off into the desert... perhaps 100 yards!

Here he is. Doesn't look so tall in this picture, but he towers over everything beneath him.

Me and “my” Saguaro.

Now you see how tall he is? I'm 5' 6” so just guessing he is 25-30 feet tall? This was the biggest Saguaro I saw in the short time that I was in the park. Nothing else even came close to his height or his girth. Amazing. As a side note, the camera was propped up against a rock on the ground. It took four tries to get this shot. I was glad that no one else stopped in the area while I was doing this – I sure felt silly running from the camera to the Saguaro - but I am thankful for self-timers on cameras!

I think he had eight “arms” coming out from his main trunk. Huge.

One of his prickly neighbors.

And another.

Photographs taken on March 15, 2010.

3 comments:

Michelle Goodrum said...

Becky - I love Saguaro National Monument! You're pictures are great! We live outside of Phoenix and have had a blast on many occassions taking pictures of ourselves by the giant Saguaros. Sometimes you have to get creative to get yourself AND a picture of the entire cactus.

Carol said...

Great job on that 3rd photo! WHAHHOOO.

TK said...

Your self-portrait story cracked me up. I've done the same thing and felt equally silly! Doesn't it feel strange, though, to be outdoors in the wide-open space and know that you have miles of it all to yourself! Well, not to country people, I suppose, but to a suburb person like me, it does!

Anyway, you're right, from the first picture I had no idea how huge that cactus is. The third was eye-popping!