Into the Mystic: Sonoran Desert

Currently in Buckeye, AZ
Going to Cottonwood, AZ and then Southern California

We spent several days hiking the trails around Tucson. First, the Saguaro National Park.

The East side of the Park is located at the seat of the Rincon Mountains. Breathtaking.

We saw some cactus in bloom which was cool.

Barrel Cactus

This is a huge saguaro!

Here is a very different species of Cholla.

This is the trail we hiked (sorry my finger is in the way) along with some of my favorite shots.

On a side note, Tucson has a big Air Force base. On our way back from the National Park we drove by a field where old planes are sent out to pasture. There were miles and miles of these old planes.

Then we went to the West side of the National Park which is at the foot of the Tucson Mountains. The light green you see is hundreds of saguaro cacti.

The trail we took had petroglyphs from Hohokam, the earliest known inhabitants of this area. These people eventually disappeared or maybe became part of a different people. Know one knows why nor do they know what these symbols mean.

That evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset from the top of the Sentinel Peak which is a couple of miles from the National Park.

The last bit of hiking we did was through the Sabino Canyon that is part of the Coronado National Forest. We took a tram ride to the top and hiked one small trail and then walked down a paved road to the bottom.
The Sabino Creek had some water in it - run off from the mountains - but becomes dry later in the year. It was really peaceful here.