Saguaro

Saguaro has two distinct regions the East side and West side, it not like the rappers, but the West side in my humble opinion is much better. My rational is that there are more cacti and real estate on the West side and better parking at trail heads. I will talk about both of the sides so don’t worry, I will take care of you. The two sides are not close to each other so make a choice of one in the AM/PM or just do the west side and a drive by on the East.

East Side – I started my day here about 0840 and the gates were open but nobody to collect payment. No issue since I have my pass and I went through but without the pass and collection happening it was $25.00. Today had many bike riders around the loop and some of them just say were not high on my list of good people in the park. For the most part if you like to ride a road bike this loop could be your friend as it is well paved and in spots even has a bike lane. Most of the trip around the park is one way another benefit for the bike riders. The loop has a few pull outs so you can stop and take a photo and gaze at the wonders of the park but these are small so don’t dilly dally or others can’t see what you are seeing. The trail heads also don’t have much in the way of parking and Dundee was taking our fair share up of space in the lot but only 1 spot! There is a two way street within the park that you can take to go to the picnic area and the loop road runs right into it so you can bypass the “loop” is you are just going to picnic. I drove around the picnic area and it is nice with plenty of parking and areas to enjoy a meal. There is also a vault toilet system in the picnic area for your comfort needs. If you are going to hike bring plenty of water, and sunscreen. There is NO water on the trail and you are in the sun the entire time.

Loma Verde – The trailhead is well marked and has a small parking area but then again I only saw 1 person on the trail but there were 4 cars parked in the trailhead. The trailhead allows you to access many other trails than Loma Verde. The trail is hard sand and has little elevation but has plenty to see in the way of terrain, cacti and critters. Note: I only saw lizards on this trail so maybe not plenty. The trail portion I did was 3.8 miles and is something that someone could do if they are used to hiking.

Freeman homestead nature trail – By luck I stopped at this trail head and found parking, only 1 other truck in the parking area. I started on the hike and you are taken through the nature trail with stops to learn about the various plant and wildlife in the area on the trail. Also you can see the “mound” of the old Freeman homestead on the trial. Freeman had a homestead that the government provided him, 640 acres or so. He built a home and created a family on the land. Well the government gives and the government buys back and the homestead was sold to help create the national park. Well spent money in my opinion. After seeing this mound on the trail it then winds into a dry creek bed and I came upon two people standing looking into a tree. They were taking photos and using binoculars so something was up. Yep there was an owl in the tree and my two bird watching friends showed the owl to me or I would have missed him. Can you see him in the photos? The hike is not that long and is not very hard at all so most people can do this hike.

West side – as I said before is the better of the two sides. You have to go through Tuscan Mountain Park to get to the National Park, or at least I did. Tuscan park starts the forest of Saguaro cacti and you drive for miles before you enter the National Park. In fact, the trailhead I used for the Gould Mine Loop is not in the National Park but Tuscan Mountain. There is a nice visitor center with plenty of parking including RV parking which the East side did not have at all in the visitor center. I picked up a trail map and headed on my way. The road within the park has a loop road but that loop is non paved so Dundee was like not today and we did not go up that road. We then went back to the Tuscan Mountain area and found our trailhead parking. The lot was big and had room for Dundee to back into a spot.

Guold Mine Loop – I went on this trail at 2:30PM and it was a hot one Mr. Grinch. Water and sunscreen applied I went off on the trail. The first part of the trail is an old creek bed so that means rocky/sandy bottom and the walking was not so easy. Think of walking on the beach in the soft sand part. The trail had a few steep parts that required me to go up a few feet straight but nothing this person afraid of heights could not handle. The loop is actually made up of 3 trails so I made the turn due to well marked trails. The second leg I ran into two people who were climbing all over an old building so I kept on going, did not want to interrupt their fun. The second leg continued up and was more in the mountain than a dry creek bed. Finally, the trail markers said to head back down and to Dundee. I was excited as I was hot and sweaty but still had plenty of water since I make sure to refill before I left on the trail. The trail down was good and solid until the very end when you hit the creek bed once again. I will say that this trail is not for everyone and you have to be in shape due to the soft sand at the beginning (or end if you go the other way on the loop.)

All in all it was a good day to hike today. On the drive back to the KOA I did spy a campground in Tuscan Mountain Park called Gilbert Ray Campground. The campground seemed nice and took reservations along with having a first come first serve area. I did a fly by and the sites all had tables with 4 chairs and water but no electric. Since you are in the desert you have no or very little shade you don’t create yourself. I think on my next voyage to Saguaro I will look to stay at this park for a night.