Saguaro National Park, located in the state of Arizona, is part of the United States national park system.Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections, lying approximately 20 miles (32 km) east and 15 miles (24 km) west of the center of the city of Tucson, Arizona. Total area in 2009 was 91,440 acres (37,000 ha) of which 70,905 acres (28,694 ha) is designated wilderness. There is a visitor center in each section. Both are easily reached by car from Tucson, but there is no public transport into either section. Both sections conserve fine tracts of the Sonoran Desert, including ranges of significant hills, the Tucson Mountains in the west and the Rincon Mountains in the east. The park gets its name from the saguaro cactus which is native to the region. Many other kinds of cactus, including barrel cactus, cholla cactus, and prickly pear, are also abundant in the park. One endangered animal, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat, lives in the park part of the year during its migration, together with one threatened species, the Mexican Spotted Owl.The park was established as Saguaro National Monument on March 1, 1933, and changed to a national park on October 14, 1994.Facilities in the park include 150 miles (240 km) of well marked and maintained hiking trails, and shorter walking trails with interpretative information available. Hiking is not advisable during the hot summer months.
Community Trips
To get to this area take Tanque Verde
Rd and keep going toward the mountains until it becomes Redington Rd.
At around mp 2 it turns to dirt. This is a pretty rough road but
any vehicle can do it, however slowly. I was pulling my Quad on a
trailer so it was slow going at between 5-15 mph. We parked at the
parking area around mile post 12 of Redington Road #371. We...
The Tanque Verde Ridge trailhead is located at the Javelina picnic area in the Saguaro National Park - East. I arrived at the trailhead around 10 am and started the 6.9 mile hike to the Juniper Basin campground. After a few 100 yards, there's a book for you to write the date, your name, the number of your party and when you departed.
The first half of the hike offers great views...
My Mystery Trail - A GPS usage game in Saguaro National Park (East)
Tanque Verde, Arizona, United States
6.1 miles
6.1 miles
This trip began as a game: My hubby went hiking yesterday, did not tell me where he was going, and when he returned, he gave me three sets of coordinates: "trailhead", "something" and "turnaround point". The rest was up to me. I entered the points on google maps in order to figure out where the trailhead was. Then I entered the way points into my gps manually. I used this in determine...
Trail starts at Babad Doag Vista parking area about 6 miles up Mt. Lemmon road. Park and cross the highway to the trailhead. This hike is about an hour up and 45 to an hour back down, but good elevation gain makes it a good workout. It was 96 degrees when I did it in October before noon. Hot.
Park at Staging area which is around the 10 or 11 milepost. There are
Bathrooms at this area. Head north on 4434 and pretty quickly to your
right you will see an ATV/motorcycle trail. This will cut over to 36.
If you have a street legal bike you can just take redington rd on up
to 36. Head north on 36. You will come to gates along the way, Make
sure you close them as you go...
Take 4417 from either upper or lower Redington access when you get to 4426 take that south to 4505 and continue south to the Falls. It appears that extra pathways have been cut which makes it difficult, I was glad to have my GPS as we had to back track several times and one trail that shows on my Mapsource is now closed. Which is why I was compelled to upload these...
A really nice evening walk right outside Tucson in the National Park. Begin at the Douglas Spring Trailhead. This is not at the main entrance to the Park, but at the very eastern end of East Speedway. The desert is lush here with lots of cactus of all kinds and many old, beautiful Saguaro. The hike begins with a gradual incline, then climbs steadily (enough to get me breathing!), then levels out...
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