MWT – The Saguaro Cactus People

Icons of the west, the saguaro cactus reminds me of people. And while visiting Saguaro National Park I met a few prickly characters.

The grow in all shapes and sizes.

The Sonoran Desert is the only place where the saguaro cactus grows naturally.

If a saguaro seedling is to survive, it needs the protection of a “nurse plant”, (or in this case rock) which provides protection from the sun and freezing temperatures.

After its first year, the seedlings highly variable growth is controlled by the amount of water in the soil.

Saguaro’s flowers open at night during May and June and are pollinated by nectar feeding bats, but not until they are 35-40 years old when they may stand up to six feet tall.

The first arm on a saguaro usually appears when the plant is 65-75 years old.

Saguaro branches always grow upward but frost or snow can damage the base of a limb allowing the weight of the branch to pull it down.

Yet if the branch survives, the growing tip will turn upward again.

They normally live for 150-200 years and can grow to 50 feet tall. Death may come by freezing, lightning, wind, old age, vandalism or human development.

When a saguaro dies, the woody ribs that supported it in life become visible as the softer plant tissue dries up and crumbles away.

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Saguaro National Park West – Tucson Mountain District

I thought I’d seen a lot of saguaros in the Sonoran Desert, but Saguaro National Park is a forest of giant cactus people.

Sunset from camp

I arrived in the late afternoon so stopped first at the visitor center where I watched the orientation film and picked up my Junior Ranger book. Then I went to the recommended Gilbert Ray campground in Tucson Mountain Park for the night.

Great place with lots of private sites in the middle of the desert all with electricity for $20.

Hohokam Road

In the morning I returned to the visitor center to get my Junior Ranger badge and some information.

Ocotillo and Avra Valley from Sus picnic area 

President Franklin D Rosevelt first established Saguaro National Monument in 1933. Then in 1961 President Kennedy expanded the monument to include Tucson Mountain Park. In 1994 congress established Saguaro National Park.

Birds nest

Saguaro National Park is composed of two distinct districts, the Ricon Mountain District east of Tucson and the Tucson Mountain District to the west.

To many these giants symbolize the American West yet saguaros only grown in southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

Saguaros can grow to 50 feet tall and are the largest member of the cactus family in the US. They normally live for 150-200 years.

For a saguaro seedling to survive, it needs the protection of a nurse plant which provides protection from the sun and freezing temperatures.

Fishhook barrel cactus

I saw many of the parks 25 species of cactus along the .5 mile Signal Hill Trail.

Which took me to a rock pile with various petroglyphs left behind by the Hohokam people.

Imagine pecking away at the desert varnish to leave a message behind.

Looks like some modern folks decided to leave their messages as well.

There’s some very crazy cactus out there, but that’s for another post.

In the mean time, I had a Very important lunch date with fellow blogger Susie of Arabia at El Molonito in Tucson. We talked for at least three hours just like old friends. What a treat to meet this amazing woman who moved with her husband to his so culturally different homeland.