With just a half day left in the Tucson area Pete and I decided to visit Saguaro National Park, which would be a new National Park for both of us. If we’d had more time available, I’d have loved to do a backpacking trip up into the pine forests of the Rincon Mountains. Instead, we hiked a few short trails around the north side of the Cactus Forest Drive.
Warming up with the quarter-mile Desert Ecology Trail we enjoyed the still cool air and snapped a few photos while quickly reading the informative signs.
A quick drive brought us to the Cactus Forest Trail’s northern trailhead and we headed south towards the Lime Kilns and Lime Falls.
On the return journey a jack rabbit checked us out before running off.
Back at the car we continued on to the Loma Verde trailhead and set off on the park’s recommended 3 mile loop consisting of the Loma Verde, Pink Hill and Squeeze Pen trails. That last trail name recalled my all-time favorite trail name, Great Smoky Mountain’s “Sweat Heifer trail”.
By the time we started the return portion of the loop the day had warmed up beyond what either of us Colorado boys were comfortable with and the scenery mostly passed as we just though of returning to the car.
Had the park been blooming (like it should in another month) our hikes might have been delayed by additional photo opportunities and we may have only covered half the miles.
