This winter we are trying to visit the National Parks in the southwest that we missed last year so, after our visit to San Diego, we decided to head over to Saguaro National Park in Arizona.
The park is divided into two separate sections with the city of Tucson and it’s one million residents in between. We visited the western section known as the Tucson Mountain District since that is where you find the impressive saguaro forest.
Please click any of the images to view larger versions.
There are over 1.6 million individual saguaro plants in the national park. They seem so humorous the way they stand there with all their arms going in all directions. They are like the octopus of the plant world.
Being the universal symbol of the American Southwest, we have all seen pictures of the saguaro cactus. We’ve seen them in western movies, in ads for Mexican restaurants, and we’ve certainly seen them on many a car’s antenna. But when you see them for yourself for the first time, it’s an astonishing sight.
The giant cactus, the largest in the USA, can live up to 250 years. It takes 75 years before the cactus will sprout it’s first arm. By the time they are 100 years old they are about 25 feet tall and at 150 years old they are 50 feet tall and weight 16,000 pounds.
You might wonder how they survive in such a harsh environment with less then 12 inches of rainfall a year. Last year the park had over 40 days in a row with temperatures over 100 degrees! The saguaro do it with their extraordinary ability to soak up water. When it does rain, each cactus is able to soak up as much as 200 gallons of water, enough to last a whole year! It’s incredible how plants and animals can adapt to their environment.
All of the image above I made during the day. There was just enough cloud in the sky to make the daytime images interesting. I used a polarizing filter to emphasize the clouds.
Evening brought with it some beautiful light but the lovely puffy clouds had started to leave and a band of heavy cloud blanketed the horizon. I made the image below using my 3 stop graduated neutral density filter to even out the exposure between the sky and the foreground.
The evening before, when we first arrived at our campsite, I made the image below right behind our RV as the sun was setting. By exposing for the sky, the saguaro became a silhouette.
What a view! Our campsite was not technically in the national park, which has only backcountry camping. We camped just outside the national park in Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson Mountain Park.
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Wonderful images Anne. I have always wanted to visit there but have not been able to manage to. I need to schedule a trip there.
Hi Len, thank you so much. I highly recommend a trip to Saguaro for it’s is a very unique place. Just don’t go in summer time!
We just stayed there for 2 weeks in our RV and its gorgeous! I found it hard to capture the beauty on camera but wow did you do wonderfully!
Hi AJ, thank you very much for your visit and comments. We too were there in our RV. It’s a beautiful spot but getting it right on camera is all about being there when the light is good. Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate.
It is great of your gift to us.i am so happy for this photos and subject.it gives me an experience of a visit to cactus forest….
Hi VK, thank you for your visit and comments! I hope you do get to see the cactus forest one day 🙂
Beautiful desertscapes. Well done.
Thank you very much Kris!
Great pictures! I haven’t been out to Saguaro NP for a long time — I need to get back out there one of these days. Thanks for sharing — you made me miss Saguaro National Park!! =)
Hi Mark, thank you! It was my first visit to Saguaro and it’s such a unique place I miss it already!
One of my favorite places in the Southwest to visit and to photograph! Glad you got to see it too! Nice pics! If you haven’t been to Bryce Canyon or Sedona, you need to get there too!!
Hi Hazel, yes we went to Bryce and Sedona last year. Actually we did the whole loop with the 5 national parks in Utah. It is a wonderful trip with so many different landscapes in a relatively small area. Thanks for your comments!
“They are like the octopus of the plant world.” Fitting description indeed. I really like the last photo of the cactus silhouetted by the setting sun. My father lives outside of Phoenix and he says that they have been having some beautiful sunsets lately.
Hi Kelly, glad you liked the description 🙂 The silhouette image is the one I really wanted to make when I knew I was going to that park. It was the vision I had in my mind. Thank you so much for your visit and comments.
Love the unique view from the tip of the cactus. I loved driving through AZ and looking up to see the Saquaros along the hillsides against the sky. Wonderfull memories for this flatlander from Florida.
Hi Dennis, Ah … Florida… I miss the birds in Florida! There are so many amazing places and animals to see in the USA. Arizona is indeed a beautiful state. I really like the area around Lake Powell too. Thank you very much for your visit and comments!
Hi – Nice photos.
Has anybody surveyed/made any estimates of the damage caused during the last few cold spells? Do cacti have the ability to resist freezing?
Thanks
Jim
That’s an interesting question Jim! I had to look it up on google and see what I could find out. It turns out that the saguaro can handle short term freezes, but if it stays below freezing for a few days it can cause death in the very old or very young cacti. But they don’t succumb right away. They can often live on their inner resources for 5 years before they suddenly collapse and die. Interesting! Thanks for your comments and question.
As always a beautiful set of images, Anne
Thank you so much Andy, I appreciate it.
If Organ Pipe N.M. is in your plans, inquire beforehand about access. Last I read that pretty much all but the campground is off limits due to the danger of increased drug trafficking. Hate to have you make the long trek down there only to be restricted to your camp site. Wonderful photos as always.
Hi John, we heard the same thing abour Organ Pipe. We considered going down there for a day trip but apparently it’s not a very safe place to stay overnight. We ended up not going after all but I hope to go maybe next year. I couldn’t believe how many border patrol guards they have down there! Their vehicles are everywhere, around every turn in the road, they even drove through our campsite in San Diego every day. Thanks for taking the time to let me know about it. I appreciate that. And thanks for the compliment 🙂
Lovely image. Question… would not a crop, reducing the width accentuate the length of the cactus? I too love the desert. The colors are amazing.
Hi Mark, are you referring to the last image? I made images in both orientations but I like the way the sunburst turned out in this one. But yes, the other orientation does emphasize the length of the cactus. Thanks for your visit and comments!
Hi Anne, My annual winter destination is Phoenix as I have lots of family living there. I love to take day trips into the desert or historic towns and shoot 1,000’s of images. Had a great two day trip to Grand Canyon last January, with many gorgeous images as a result. God Bless your Summer back home. Tom
Thank you very much Tom. We don’t spend much time in cities, but we have been around Phoenix and Tuscon without actually going into the city. Actually last year I did go in to Phoenix to visit a veterinarian for my dog but aside from that we pretty much avoid them. Love the southwest though!