Saguaro National Park in One Day

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Saguaro National Park

April 25

Hotel McCoy

Leaving Joshua Tree National Park’s east side at around 1:00 p.m. we arrived in the Tucson area around 7:00 p.m. It was here where we stayed in our favorite motel of the trip, the Hotel McCoy. The vibe is Americana retro, art, and community at the Hotel McCoy.  Tucked between a highway and an industrial area is this gem of a motel. Once we saw the entrance we knew we were in for a treat.

This is not a fancy motel but it offers extremely friendly and earthy staff, a very nice pool, retro art themed rooms and lobby, local artwork everywhere, and a small pinball arcade.  The grab-and-go dining is sparse but somehow gets the job done with its creativeness. For example, they are really big on pop tarts for breakfast!  The one thing the front desk person cooks (in addition to serving drinks) is grilled cheese sandwiches.  So, once we checked in and checked out our room, we walked back to the lobby for yummy grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

After dinner we spent time at the retro pinball arcade and took in the artwork around the parking lot.

Then off to bed…hard to believe we started this same day hiking up Mastodon Peak in Joshua Tree 6 hours away.

April 26

Tucson Mountain District

After breakfast of oatmeal and pop tarts at the hotel we decided that we enjoyed staying here so much that we booked again for this night as well.  I did it online at the front desk so I would get the cheaper rate, and the person at the desk made sure we got the same room so we didn’t need to move anything. They are quite hospitable here. Then on to the park.

Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections, one on either side of the city of Tucson. Randomly, we chose to do the west section this morning (Tucson Mountain District), and we would do the east section in the afternoon (Rincon Mountain District). We arrived at the west section visitors center at around 10:00 a.m.

At the Visitors Center we learned a few things. The saguaro, pronounced “sawaro” is the country’s largest cactus.  They have a very short 3-week bloom season and fortunately we hit it at just as it was beginning…even though it was technically too early.  Though each cactus can have dozens of flowering blooms on it, they open at different times, and each one opens for just one day.  The cacti pics that follow show off the white funnel-shaped flowers…again, we were very lucky to see these amazing trees in bloom.

At the Visitors Center there is a great introductory trail called the Cactus Garden Trail. We spent about 20 minutes here.

Sendero Esperanza Trail

From here we drove to do the longest hike of the day at the Sendero Esperanza Trail to the Ridge. Along the way we enjoyed the endless saguaros in view all the time.

We got to the trailhead around 11:00 a.m. The temps were in the 90’s so we heavily watered up and put on lots of sunscreen for the hike. The Sendero Esperanza trail is a moderately challenging 3.5-mile round trip hike that is flat for the first half mile, then it’s up, up, up along switchbacks for about a mile to a ridge. The views from the ridge are excellent, with the park’s signature sea of saguaros spreading out in all directions. Within view are Amole Peak, the Red Hills, and Wasson Peak, as well as an expansive view of the dessert floor.

We saw only four other people on this whole hike. We’re thinking maybe the mid-90’s was a deterrent for normal people. We did however, remember our water-cooled neck bandanas this time, and that helped a lot. Our next stop after this hot but really great hike was the very easy 1/2-mile Signal Hill trail. The attraction here is actually the petroglyphs near the Signal Hill picnic area.

Rincon Mountain District

Mica View Trail

After this quick hike we got in the car and headed toward the east section, or the Rincon Mountain District.  Along the way we stopped in Tucson for a fast-food lunch. We arrived at the Rincon Mountain District entrance at around 3:15 p.m.

There are several short loop trails to choose from in the east section of Saguaro National Park.  Based on recommendations from the rangers we decided to do the easy and popular 2-mile loop Mica View Trail. We really couldn’t be too adventurous because even though it’s late in the afternoon it’s still 94 degrees!

The cryptically named “Mica View Access Road” to the trailhead from the visitors center is a narrow, serpentine one-way circuit drive, which made for a fun excursion.

One reason this trail is popular is because part of it comes very close to a residential neighborhood, which we could see, and so the locals hike it often. The trail offered an excellent final hike for us in the park, and the shadows of the late afternoon provided a different feel than the high sun of the west section earlier in the day.

At around 4:45 p.m. we headed out of the park for an early dinner at nearby local favorite restaurant, which we passed on the way in.  The Saguaro Corners family restaurant was a great stop for dinner around 5:00 p.m. We ate on their backyard-style patio, in shade of course, with views of the Rincon Mountains.  The young waitstaff was excellent, and the food was, too. They were busy but efficient and friendly…which is probably why they’ve been busy since 1956.

We got back to the Hotel McCoy around 7:00 p.m. and headed straight for the pool.  They had live music, and the atmosphere was lively but not raucous.  It was a fun night at the pool.

Off to bed. On to Sedona tomorrow morning.

Next: Sedona to Phoenix