Some of my stops are planned, and some are happy accidents.
Saguaro National Park was a happy accident.
I was on my way to Phoenix (for a planned stop to see family) and I was ahead of schedule as I left west Texas. I conducted a little research, mostly using Google Maps and the National Park System map that came with my National Parks Passport booklet.
At the beginning of March I purchased a 2023 America the Beautiful Annual Pass, so I now have access to more than 2,000 recreation areas managed by five Federal agencies. Every time I look at this map I see a new area that is protected by our National Park System - places I didn't even know existed - and it makes me immeasurably happy.
I considered visiting Chiricahua National Monument or White Sands National Park, or even dipping south into Mexico. I also researched several locations in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson, on the recommendation of my aunt. Unfortunately, I learned that recent wildfires had caused closures in many of the places my aunt had recommended.
Instead of any of these places, I continued driving west on Hwy 10, hoping a solution would present itself. It did. In the form of a brown sign at the side of the highway, and these weirdly shaped cacti.
I pulled off Hwy 10 and found myself on a beautiful scenic drive in a landscape I had never experienced before. Miles and miles and miles of saguaro cactus in every direction; a perfectly preserved cactus forest in the Sonoran Desert - unique and stately - a tribute to slow growth and desert diversity.
I drove for about 15 minutes, winding through the saguaro forest, and followed signs for the Red Hills Visitor Center. I arrived before it was officially open. I used the restroom, helped myself to a park brochure and sat on the beautiful back porch, reading about the park and updating my journal. It was easily one of the most beautiful visitor centers I'd ever seen, so I shot a short video.
I decided to go for a run in the desert. There was trail called "Desert Discovery Loop Trail" just down the road from the visitor center, so I ran/walked a few loops, learning from outdoor interpretive signs along the way. With each loop my eyes adjusted to the landscape and took in more of my unique surroundings. Prickly pear cactus, teddy bear cholla, brittle bush and ocotillo were abundant. Rattlesnakes were happily absent. (I was later told that the morning March air is a little nippy for their taste.) After my run, I went back to the visitor center to get my passport stamped.
Saguaro National Park turned out to be the perfect side-sojourn before meeting up with family in Phoenix. I'm no Edward Abbey, tramping across the desert in jungle boots with only water and fig newtons, hoping for a water tank so I can trek another 50 miles. But I am a reader of old Ed, and I've seen enough on this March morning to want to return, and to further explore this wild, deserted edge of our country. (Pun intended.)
To end - a prayer from Beyond the Wall, by Edward Abbey:
"Beyond the wall of the unreal city, beyond the security fences topped with barbed wire and razor wire, beyond the asphalt belting of the superhighways, beyond the cemented backsides of our temporarily stopped and mutilated rivers, beyond the rage of lies that poisons the air, there is another world waiting for you. It is the old true world of the deserts, the mountains, the forests, the islands, the shores, the open plains. Go there. Be there. Walk gently and quietly deep within it. And then--
May your trails be dim, lonesome, stony, narrow, winding and only slightly uphill. May the wind bring rain for the slickrock potholes fourteen miles on the other side of yonder blue ridge. May God's dog serenade your campfire, may the rattlesnake and the screech owl amuse your reverie, may the Great Sun dazzle your eyes by day and the Great Bear watch over you by night."
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