Saguaro National Park

Vitali and I have been going through exercises figuring out what our interests are, so that Vitali can make some new choices moving forward in the career department. In cogitating this and discussing out loud – I’ve realized that one of my "core interests" are plants. I’ve always loved photographing them; abstracting and highlighting their unique shapes and vibrant colors. I enjoy cultivating them, smelling them, and being in their presence. My dream is to one day have a home with a conservatory, where I can spend my time reading books on a velvet upholstered chaise bathed in natural light and surrounded by lush, tropical foliage. I’ll also have a glass walled atrium where I can grow my own Saguaro…

Even with all that being said – I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Saguaro NP.

We had a campsite reserved at Gilbert Ray campground, right outside the south boundary of the West unit of Saguaro. (The East unit was on the other side of Tucson.) The campground was practically empty. The office was closed for the summer and we were the only poor suckers in a tent – the few other souls brave enough for 100 degree camping were all sitting chilled in their RVs…

We endured two afternoons of duck roasting temperatures, sitting in the shade Numa created one day and then going to Target for the A/C the next. We were very fortunate though in that we were visiting while the flowering season of the Saguaro was in full swing.

It’s pretty common when camping to find yourself participating (sometimes intensely) in the passage of time (being bored). There’s either no cell service, no battery, enough hiking and sightseeing for the day, dinner’s been cooked and eaten; and as a result, sometimes, there’s still extra time. So we do a lot of this -- participating in the passage of time, and while experiencing it -- enjoy having something to look at, and here, the Saguaro proved extremely entertaining.

Some Saguaro stand perfectly erect – some appear to be falling over drunk. Some wave hello, some dance alone, or with another. They are both stolid and whimsical, reminding me of a certain Commander William T. Riker.

So, it was in this way that we passed quite a bit of time observing our prickly friends, photographing, and remarking on them. They were almost the only things out in the campground besides us anyway.

One complaint I do have is that some of the national parks or monuments that protect a plant – Saguaro, Organ Pipe, Joshua Tree, (Sequoia did a great job with this) – I feel that the information they provide on the plant itself is inadequate. I want to know Wikipedia levels of detail – tell me about the vascularity, life cycle, flowering; specifics! The information provided on the brochures is very basic, and the occasional tidbit of scientific knowledge is spread out across ten roadside exhibits that no one could ever hope to read in their entirety. I ended up reading quite a bit on the internet about the Saguaro in the absence of information from the park.

Congratulations, you’ve just subscribed to Saguaro facts!

I learned a man was shooting and poking a Saguaro and an arm fell and crushed him and his car. Then the trunk fell on him too! I learned they can survive several hours below freezing. I learned they are missing a critical gene and plant biologists don’t know how they survive without it. I learned It takes some 50 years to reach a few feet tall – and some never grow arms. I learned they cost about $100/foot. I learned even if they are killed, the upper parts of the plant will survive for several years and even flower. Occasionally, they fall and damage homes. They can weigh up to 5,000 lbs, grow 75’ tall, and live for 200 years! I learned the NPS has a Saguaro Census where they are counted in 45 different plots, each 4 hectares in size. Best or worst summer job ever?

As we pondered our place in the universe with the Saguaro we wondered-- how many Saguaro are involved in traffic accidents each year? Do they even keep count? We saw two that had recently been backed in to at the campground, and there were quite a few of them planted in road medians. There are zoning ordinances around them too, so you can’t just do whatever you want with them if they’re in your yard.

We only really spent one day inside the park itself, and did a few short hikes – Gould Mine Trail, Valley View Trail, and the Cactus Garden Trail. Valley View had the largest Saguaro we saw inside of the park, with a few of the Saguaro arms even having their own arms! This was my personal measure of how impressive each one was – if the arms had arms, it was a big one. We later saw many arm armed Saguaro up by Tonto National Monument, which was quite the contrast to the large reservoir adjacent to the slopes that they grew on.

In closing: Saguaros saguaro? Saguaro saguaro. Saguaro’ed!