Saguaro National Park February 27, 2020

Updated: Sep 30, 2020

Driving into Phoenix we were surprised by the sudden appearance of Saguaro Cacti.

It was like they just came out of nowhere, and once they appeared...

They. Were. Everywhere.

When you think cactus, the Saguaro is the type you envision. I had never seen these in person before and it was pretty spectacular driving by the masses that were surrounding us.

Now we were looking forward to our upcoming

trip to this Arizona National Park that much more.

We entered Saguaro National Park from the West.

It was strange to find that this tiny park was broken up by a residential neighborhood. This is something we had not come across with the other parks. What a change from the expansive Zion and Grand Canyon parks to this one. After a trip to the visitor center we planned out our day and set out to #explore.

We decided to check out the Kings Canyon Trail which follows an old railway that was constructed in the 1930s.

We took the more difficult rocky wash route on our way in and saved the easier paved trail for the way out. We saw a sign warning of Africanized (“Killer”) Bees and man did we see them everywhere. Luckily, we kept to ourselves and they did the same. While walking along, we passed a surprising amount of little flowers. They came in a range of colors including red, orange, yellow, purple, pink and white. Mix those with the green saguaro and grasses and the blue sky and we had the full rainbow.

I had no idea the desert could be so #beautiful.

At one point Emmy stopped to empty some rocks out of her shoe.

We didn't realize it at first, but eventually discovered that she accidentally left her walking stick by the rock she sat on. We reviewed our pictures to make sure we knew where she had it last. (See - it pays off to be obsessed with #photography, especially outdoor photography :). Kevin set back to retrieve the walking stick that Emmy bought with some of her souvenir money while we were at our first park, Big bend.

While we waited the kids and I sat watching a bird perched on top of a saguaro cactus.

It sang what seemed like his entire life story to us. Meanwhile, we watched a hummingbird whiz around nearby. Unfortunately, the walking stick was nowhere to be found. We decided to take the loss and head out. Our time at Saguaro was short, but sweet. Although we were down one walking stick, we really enjoyed #hiking around this simple little park.