frosty
We visited both the east and west sections of the park; the pictures below are from the west side. We arrived at Catalina State Park near Tucson at the end of March, as things were shutting down. The good news was that Saguaro’s park roads and trails were open. The bad news – all facilities closed, this time including rest rooms, and surprisingly, pit toilets at scattered picnic areas. We spent half a day in the western half of this park, which is split into two sections with Tucson in between. We drove the Bajada Scenic Loop and walked a couple of short trails, including the Signal Hill trail to a petroglyph site.
The park has the largest concentration of saguaros in the Sonora Desert, the only place they’re found. They grow slowly – 15 years to reach one foot, 75 to grow the first arm, and they typically live to 150 or 200 years.