April 5-11, 2009
The first thing you notice driving into Arizona from the east
is cactuses. BIG cactuses. This is the northeast corner of the
Sonoran desert, an entirely different and much more varied
ecosystem than the more barren Chihuahuan Desert of west
Texas and northeast Mexico.
The Saguaro is the big cactus that one typically thinks of
when one thinks of the southwest. What I didn't realize
was how big these things are, thirty feet high and more.
They dominate the landscape so it's no wonder that the
National Park takes its name from them.
This was a 'volunteer vacation' that I signed up for while I
was still in Port Arthur back in January. My hope was to
get an introduction to hiking in the desert west and see how
the National Park Service rolled when it came to doing trails.
It turned out to be pretty fascinating going from dealing with
the desert to really taking an interest in it and coming to enjoy
and appreciate it.