Saguaro National Park - Tucson

Did you know that the Sahuaro cactus is native to the Sonoran desert? The bloom is AZ State Flower and lovely to witness. That is if you can catch their short blooming season. These majestic cacti can live up to 200 years. They develop their upturned arms (as many as 24!) at 75 to 100 years of age. Some never grow arms and are called spears. SNP is another National Park in our own AZ Tucson backyard. My cousin lived in Tucson for a short while, too short, before moving back to her original state. The home she lived in backed right up to the park. Lucky her, right? I live in Phoenix but always a joy to drive down to Tucson to visit her and this lovely park. It was always a stop by. It truly is a photographers playground. We went often. It is a grand and majestic place to visit. So gorgeous and full of peace. I am usually not the biggest fan of cactus landscape preferring lush forested tree scapes like back east instead. However with that said, this place always takes my breath away. Cacti everywhere of all sizes and shapes. It is hard to describe. You really must see it in person. Happy trails. Take tons of photos. You will not regret it.

Never have I ever seen so many cactuses in my life and what a sight it is. So many different shapes. Hiking is not my thing but I do it for my son who is an avid hiker. My favorite thing to say is..."are we there yet?" Of course my son can't hear me cause he is always 100 feet ahead of me. Make your way to the Visitor Center. Admission is $25 per vehicle. Grab a map, there are 46 trails to choose from with 1 to 10 mile hikes. We used an app called, Hiking Project to help guide us and it was very reliable.It was not smart of me to wear my Teva sandals. I slipped many times whenever I walked on a bunch of small pebbles and rocks. Most of the terrain is dry sand. It's the desert so make sure you put on tons of sunscreen. The trails all close at dawn so give yourself plenty of time to get back to your vehicle. The drive up and down is very scenic with winding rolling hills. Felt like I was in that Disneyland Cars Land ride. Whether you are a nature lover or not, you can't help but take in the wonder of Mother Nature here in Tucson, Arizona.

Saguaro National Park is a cool spot to go!Obviously lots of Saguaros, per it's name sake. I only visited Saguaro West and we saw it in about half a day. It was really exciting and cool to see such a large amount of saguaros in one space. The sunset in this park was very pretty. I would recommend bringing water because it was hot, hot, HOT! Really close to Tucson though, so not one of those parks that's in the middle of nowhere. Prior to going to this park, I was told don't travel to the area just to go to this park, but check it out if you're in the area and I definitely agree with that sentiment. Definitely a fun and beautiful park but not as grand as some others.

Super cool National Park full of Cactus! The staff In the visitor center were friendly. We went to the West Side and did a couple little hikes and drove through and on to Touson. Not the most exciting National Park I have been to but I love to check them out and since we were visiting Phoenix we made the trip!

Are you tired of not seeing a single cactus no matter where you look? Is there a cactus-shaped hole in your heart? DO YOU NEED MORE CACTI IN YOUR LIFE? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then you need to come on down to Saguaro National Park. It's huge. There are some gift shops/welcome centers. There are cactus related exhibits that explain to you some things about the history and the culture of the great cactus plant.You can hike. It's in a desert so consider that....but you can hike. You can also drive. There are roads that connect the east and west entrances so it's easy if you're passing through to just drive on through. You can use an annual national park pass to gain entry. YOU CAN LOOK AT ONE HUMONGOUS CACTUS AFTER ANOTHER UNTIL YOUR NEED TO DO SO IS FULFILLED.It's a national park. It's worth seeing. If you're nearby, don't miss it. If you're passing by, don't miss it. If you're roaming aimlessly across the southwest and you're within a few hours of it, get down there and let the presence of the cacti sooth your mind.

National Parks get five stars from me; they really are one of the best things about this country. Saguaro NP has two districts. This Yelp page is for Saguaro NP West, aka Tucson Mountain District. It lies to the west of and fairly close to the City of Tucson (the East district, the Rincon Mountain District, lies a bit further away but still essentially on the outskirts of Tucson).- Saguaro cacti: the reason you're probably here. They're everywhere and many are spectacular with an incredible array of shapes and sizes.- You'll also find spectacular barrel cacti, cholla, ocotillo, little fuzzy cacti (careful where you step!) and other desert plants. Not a lot of wildlife.- Saguaro NP is a hiking and picnicking park, not so much an off-road 4WD park. In fact, there's really no place to off road here (I recommend Death Valley NP and Mojave Nat preserve for that if you want desert 4WDing).- Good loop road with numerous pull outs to stop and check out catii.- Very good visitor center.- If you have time to visit only one Saguaro NP district, I recommend this one. The Rincon Mountain District is maybe less spectacular. Both are definitely worth spending time in.

This is a review of the west entrance and west side , not the east side near the i10 freeway.This visitor center is much further inland and over past gates pass and pass the desert museum.There are no rangers there until 9 am but they do have an automated fee payment machine right outside the door to the visitor center.There are some little Loop trails right outside the visitor center that have a variety of plants and cacti and several types of birds. There are warning signs about rattlesnakes so beware.The park has a plethora of saguaro cactus, for miles and miles. Hence the name of the park.You can use your annual park pass here as well as numerous other national parks and national monuments.

I almost skipped out on Saguaro National Park since I was under a time crunch and I figured if you've seen one big cactus, you've seen them all...boy was I wrong. The park is divided into east and west halves, and I ventured out to the west half before making the drive to Phoenix, entering the Red Hills Visitors Center as my destination for navigation. It is a very scenic and peaceful drive on approach into the park. If you are pressed for time as I was, you can still see a lot of cacti and do a small hike just in the immediate area of the visitors center.The Red Hills Visitors Center is perfection for a National Parks Service center, complete with a rangers station, museum exhibits, restrooms, theater with an introductory film, gift shop, and beautiful pathways to take in all the beauty of the saguaro cacti...and you will see plenty of them! Make sure you stay until the end of the film in the theater as you're in for quite the pleasant surprise at the end. Totally unexpected, but Saguaro National Park is definitely worth the time in visiting when in Arizona.

This time we went to the West portion and really enjoyed it. The Park video was informative and employees very friendly. The gift shop was large and had many items.

We love cacti, and it was so nice to visit this beautiful park in winter. So nice having a park like this close to the city bustle.