Saguaro National Park East in Tucson, Arizona
By maezee
@maezee (41985)
United States
March 17, 2021 5:08pm CST
This park is what I have been calling the "part two" of the Saguaro National Park, it's located on the east side of Tucson and south of the popular Sabino Canyon. This one is said to be less busy and less popular than the other. In my opinion, this one is a little bit less picturesque than the west park. But there is PLENTY of hilly hiking to do here. and is still very beautiful. Apparently this park is in the Rincon Mountain District, which is just a different set of mountains than the west park. This park also has a VERY beautiful one-way drive (called the Cactus Forest Loop Drive) - it's slow, hilly and beautiful to take a quick tour. From there, you can access many trailheads.
We did about 10 miles all connecting starting at the Loma Verde trailhead, and then many trails interact and you can have as long of a trail as you'd like. For the MOST part, the trails were well-marked and signage was good, but
We made the mistake of taking a wrong turn somewhere and running out of water, when it was 88 degrees and HOT. There is VERY little shade to be had. I would re-iterate to anyone who plans on hiking here: bring MORE than enough water, sunblock, a hat, and get started EARLY so that you don't get caught in that noon-time sun. *OR* make a plan to wait for an overcast or cooler day, since temps seem to vary greatly by the day.
I would also suggest this park if you ever get the opportunity!
4 people like this
3 responses
@JudyEv (382658)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Mar 21
Oh gosh, that would be very bad running out of water. 

@Deepizzaguy (122353)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
17 Mar 21
Thank you for sharing this story about the national park in Arizona.





