13/12: Saguaro National Park - West
Category: General
Posted by: The Agnew Family
As Carol and I had seen Saguaro National Park - East and were a little disappointed with the number of Saguaros, we decided to see what Saguaro National Park - West was like. It was a good decision on our part --- there were a lot more saguaros. The saguaro has a wood structure and is filled with jelly-like substance, so I find it very interesting to see all of the contorted shapes the arms take.
John found out the hard way the reason the cholla is called the jumping cactus. The "wonder tool" Ed carries in his pocket pulled most of the thorns out and the information center had an appropriate tweezer that removed the remaining thorn. Carol and I named this saguaro "bunny ears".
We were waiting for the saguaro on the left to start walking .... a little reminiscent of some horror movies. The saguaro on the right is almost the perfect saguaro from drawings --- just need to photo shop the arm in front out.
Had to laugh when I saw this photo .... it looks staged but it wasn't.
We could be wrong, but Carol and I think this is a baby saguaro. There were a quiet a few young cacti of different varieties.
Triplets.
A red-tailed hawk in a dead saguaro. I was pretty impressed with myself that I spotted the hawk as we drove by.
This small rock outcropping is full of petroglyphs believed to be over 800 years old.
The weather man predicted rain for this evening and he was correct. You can see from the photos that the day started out sunny and clear, getting cloudier as the day went on. Just before 8 pm the rain started. Funny part of the weather forecast was listening to the snow report, Mount Lemmon on the edge of Tucson is expecting 1 to 2 feet of snow.
John found out the hard way the reason the cholla is called the jumping cactus. The "wonder tool" Ed carries in his pocket pulled most of the thorns out and the information center had an appropriate tweezer that removed the remaining thorn. Carol and I named this saguaro "bunny ears".
We were waiting for the saguaro on the left to start walking .... a little reminiscent of some horror movies. The saguaro on the right is almost the perfect saguaro from drawings --- just need to photo shop the arm in front out.
Had to laugh when I saw this photo .... it looks staged but it wasn't.
We could be wrong, but Carol and I think this is a baby saguaro. There were a quiet a few young cacti of different varieties.
Triplets.
A red-tailed hawk in a dead saguaro. I was pretty impressed with myself that I spotted the hawk as we drove by.
This small rock outcropping is full of petroglyphs believed to be over 800 years old.
The weather man predicted rain for this evening and he was correct. You can see from the photos that the day started out sunny and clear, getting cloudier as the day went on. Just before 8 pm the rain started. Funny part of the weather forecast was listening to the snow report, Mount Lemmon on the edge of Tucson is expecting 1 to 2 feet of snow.