The Cactus Tour
On our first visit to the Southwest last year, we zoomed through pretty quick, spending only about 3 weeks between New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. This time we’ve really slowed down, and taken the time to visit out-of-the-way places, which is working out well with this milder winter.
Saguaro National Park
This park has two sections to the east and west of Tucson, Arizona, and was basically created to protect the Saguaro cacti from getting trampled by cows and urban sprawl. The saguaros are pretty big, but they could be even bigger if a couple of deep freezes in the previous century hadn’t killed most of the mature ones. A full-grown saguaro can be 75 feet tall, but it takes them 100-150 years to get there.
Pump Station BLM
We took a break outside Tucson to meet up with some road friends and actually socialize for a bit. This also gave me time to wander in the desert a bit and experiment with cactus images.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
An aforementioned out-of-the-way place, this park is in the northern portion of the Sonoran desert. But it’s so green! There’s life everywhere, and the scenic drive through the park was something special. I also finally, briefly saw a Golden Eagle (on the three-hundred sixty-fifth day of the trip!), so check that off my bucket list.
Gunsight Wash BLM
We stayed at this free spot outside of Organ Pipe for a few days so we could finish up our bus tour video, which also gave me a couple cracks at getting the cactus/sunset photo I had been envisioning.
