On a brief stop in Tucson, Arizona enroute between San Diego and Scottsdale (yes, Tucson is a wayward detour), we carved out some time to take a cruise through the cactus forest of Saguaro National Park. On a tip from our waiter/bartender the night before, we entered the east district of the park at the Rincon Mountain Visitor Center to cruise the loop of the Cactus Forest Drive.
At the foot of the Rincon Mountains, the 8-mile loop winds around this piece of the Sonoran Desert with several short walking and hiking trails (and some longer ones heading into the canyons and mountains) splaying out from the drive like cactus spines.
The word Saguaro (saa-waa-row) comes from the Ópata language (a native language spoken by the indigenous people of Mexico’s Sonoran Desert). The Saguaro cactus only grows in the Sonoran Desert, but it cannot grow everywhere within the desert, as it requires the perfect balance of heat and rainfall to survive. Its short roots collect water and accordion-like pleats in the trunk and arms expand to store it. Waxy skin reduces loss of moisture and the spines shade and shield the plant from hot sun and drying winds. The Saguaro cactus can live up to 200 years and they start growing arms at around age 70. They typically reach their full height of around 50 feet (some grow as tall as 75 feet high) around age 150.
The Saguaro plays an important role for the animals that live in the desert as well. Gila woodpeckers cut holes and live in them, while other animals adopt the abandoned holes as their own. In summer, deep red fruit ripens providing food for doves, javelinas (wild pigs), bats and foxes and pack rats and jackrabbits eat the cactus flesh.
The National Park opened in 1994, but its presence was made possible by a conservation effort dating back to 1933. The park is divided into an east and west district divided by mountains and the suburbs of Tucson.
The Saguaro are not alone, there are many other types of cacti in the park, some in the east, some in the west and some in both districts. These include Organpipe Cactus (only one of them in the west district), Hedgehog cactus, Cholla cactus, Barrel cactus, Prickly Pear and Pincushion cactus to name a few. For a full list click here.
On our visit, it was just us and the cactus. We (perhaps fortunately) caught no sight of gila monsters, rattlesnakes or javelinas that make the desert their home; only another stray photographer or two trying to capture the beauty of the cacti against the desert or mountain backdrop in the cactus forest.
Sources:
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saguaro
- https://www.nps.gov/sagu/learn/nature/saguaro.htm
- https://housegrail.com/types-of-prickly-pear-cactus/
- https://housegrail.com/types-of-cholla-cactus/
- https://housegrail.com/types-of-barrel-cactus/
- Saguaro National Park brochure, US National Park Service.
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