Driving Dist/ Time: 111mi./ 1h 56min. (to Saguaro National Park); 305mi./ 4h 31min. (to Las Cruces)
Sights Seen: Saguaro National Park
My brother found a post card in one of the gift shops earlier in our trip. The picture was of a car driving along a road in the distance with two cacti in the forefront, both with their arms hanging lazily to the side with one cacti saying to the other, "Quick! Put up your arms, the tourists are coming!" At this point, my brother and I became determined to sneak up on a cactus and catch it off guard with its arms drooping. Well, as we learned from Saguaro NP, the ones with arms drooping are in fact either sick, dead, or mutated... oh... that's no fun... But our trip to Saguaro was certainly no wash because we were able to see some truly amazing stuff. Saguaro, name after the Saguaro cactus, is home to many different types of the green, prickly plant including the saguaro, barrel, cholla, and prickly pear cacti. Additionally, the Park contains a variety of other desert flora and fauna including the ocotillo plant (seen in the picture above next to the cactus) and the Lesser Long-Nosed Bat, an endangered species which has made its home in the Park. At many points along the 8-mile driving tour route, the visitor gets an opportunity to see spectacular individual specimens of cacti as well as fields and valleys filled and teeming with cacti as if it were a forest. Perhaps to native Arizonans, this Park is not much to write home about, but for a couple of Northeasterners who never seen anything like it, Saguaro was a unique experience and a bit of desert life not to be missed.
States visited to date: 15
National Park Passport cancellations to date: 19
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