Saguaro National Park & the Desert Museum

If you want to see giant cactus, Tucson is the place to be. Saguaro cacti grow all over the hillsides surrounding the Tucson area in the Sonoran Desert.

The best way to see these cacti up close, is to spend time in the Saguaro National Park. The park is broken into two areas. One area is east of Tucson and the other is on the west side of town. We began our exploring in the east with a stop at the Rincon Visitor Center. Here you can pick up some maps, get some helpful tips, and answers to any questions. We then drove the Cactus Forest Dr loop, making two stops. First, we parked at the Mica View Picnic Area. From the parking lot, we took the mica view trail, connected to other trails, and made a 4.5-mile loop. It was amazing to see these giant cacti up close. They are so varied, with some having many “arms” to ones with none. 

It was overwhelming to see the size of the saguaro cactus, growing 10-52 ft. tall and up to 30 in.  in diameter. It was fascinating to see some dead ones with the “ribs” of wood skeleton showing.

As we were following the trail back to the jeep, we saw a coyote trotting by. He didn’t seem to be bothered by us, but he also didn’t stop.

Our second stop on the loop was at the Desert Ecology Trail. This is a short ¼-mile trail with informational signs about the plants and animals found in the Sonoran Desert. On the loop road you are only allowed to stop at designated parking areas, no parking along the road. Unfortunately, it is popular, and the parking is very limited. We did discover that there is a couple parking lots on the edge of the park along some border roads.

Day two we headed to the west part of the park and the Red Hills visitor center. We did drive the short loop through this area but made no stops. We then drove around to the northern end of the park and parked on Picture Rocks road by the Ringtail Trail. We took the trail through the canyon looping back around on Picture rocks wash trail to ringtail again.

Along the wash trail we did see some petroglyphs which explains the name of the wash. Near the petroglyphs, it a small loop through the desert of the stations of the cross. We did not walk this path.

Our third opportunity to see the Saguaro Cactus up close was at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It is on the road to the Red Hills visitor center in the western part of Saguaro NP. The museum is very different from what you expect from a museum. It is mostly outdoors with a zoo and botanical gardens and a few buildings housing an aquarium and reptiles. These are the species of animals and plants you will find in the Sonoran desert. We spent a couple of hours walking the different paths of which about half are paved and the rest dirt. The zoo had a variety of animals both big and small.

There are two aviaries, one of which is just hummingbirds. The reptile house of course has lots of snakes, which thankfully we never saw while hiking.

There are a few different gardens spread throughout showcasing cacti, agave, and even pollinators.

If in Tucson, the desert museum is well worth a trip. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling the grounds and learning about the desert.