Saguaro National Park

The Saguaro National Park is located east and west of Tucson, Az. We visited the East part of the park. To tour the park, we took a drive on the eight-mile Cactus forest Drive, which is a paved one -lane road. The saguaro cactus is an interesting cactus- no 2 are alike. The growth is very slow. By the end of a year, the saguaro seedling may measure only 1/4 inch. After 15 years, it may be barely a foot tall. It begins to flower after 30 years and by 50 years, it may be as tall as 7". After 75 years it may sprout its first branches or arms. In 100 years, it may have reached 25 feet. They may live 150 years towering as high as 50 feet and weighing 8 tons or more. Birds, such as the gila woodpecker and gilded flicker, dwell in nest holes they make in the trunk of the saguaro. Then other birds, such as the American kestrel, warblers, cactus wrens, elf owls and screech owls, make their homes in the holes. The park is also home to other members of the cacti family. We saw many of the saguaros which had so many thorns on top that they looked like the top was covered with a layer of snow. You can view the other cacti and a picture of what a dead saguaro looks like in our travel photos on the web.