Posted on by NH Nomads

Saguaro National Park

Rincon (East) District

This is the second installment of Saguaro National Park, and one that we did not even know about until we showed up at the Red Hill (West) District two days prior. We decided to hang out in the Tucson area for the day instead of heading back toward Phoenix and doing a couple of smaller points of interest there. We still drove to Phoenix in the evening and stayed at the hotel that we had booked for the night.

This district covers a lot more area than the west district, though the west district had a more concentrated population of saguaro cacti.

When we come back to this area, we’ll be camping somewhere close enough that we can spend a couple of days hiking around Saguaro National Park. Both districts have lots of trails that sounded interesting to us, but none of them were hikes that we could do in the time that we had available to us on either of the days that we were here this time.

We were sharing the loop road with a LOT of bicyclists in the early part of the day. Judging by how fast they were going (some even passed us as we were driving), and that they weren’t stopping to read any of the signs, I’d guess they were there for training and not for the park itself.

We drove the Cactus Forest Loop Drive, an 8-mile paved one-way road. We stopped at the overlooks and only had time to hike the shortest of the trails, the Desert Ecology Trail. It is about 1/4 of a mile, flat, and paved.

There are many interesting informational signs along the way. Along the Desert Ecology Trail, we learned about the symbiotic relationship of the vegetation and animals that live in this particular desert community.

Photo taken along the Cactus Forest Loop Drive
Turtle crossing, near Javalina Rocks along the Cactus Forest Loop Drive
We thought there was a short trail to the Freeman Homestead from this spot, but we were mistaken. We had confused this pulloff, labeled “Javelina Rocks”, with the Javelina picnic area toward the end of the loop drive. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and were unable to take that hike once we found it. There’s always next time!
Cactus Forest Overlook

 

 

 

Saguaro National Park, Rincon District

The Eastern portion of Saguaro National Park. A loop road goes through one corner of the park, but most of this portion of the park is only accessible by hiking.

Park Details

Visitor Center

3693 S. Old Spanish Trail,
Tucson, Arizona 85730

Admission fee

$25 per car
Annual NPS Pass Accepted
(Note: Visitor Center is accessible without passing through fee collection station)

Website

nps.gov/sagu

NPS Passport Stamps

Visitor Center / Gift Shop

Other things to do in the area

This park is not far from Vail and Cienenga Creek Bridge, where we enjoyed watching trains roll by!

Our Experience

Overall impression of the park

There was lots of hiking to be done at both districts of Saguaro, but most of the Rincon DIstrict seems to only be accessible by hiking.

What we wish we’d have known before visiting

The obvious thing that we did not know about when visiting here was that the park is comprised of two districts, one on either side of Tucson.

What we would do again

The Cactus Forest Loop Road was well maintained, we would drive that again as part of a more intensive hiking visit.

What we wish we would have done but missed

Several trails led up into the hills. Saguaro Rincon would have afforded us another opportunity to hike by some natural tanks. We’d like to have a couple of days to spend hiking this district.

What we would probably skip next time

There was nothing that we did on this visit that we would not do again!