Earlier this month, we went on an epic 10-day road trip through Arizona and Utah. We flew into Phoenix and landed at 11pm on a Wednesday, picked up our rental Ford Expedition, got groceries, and slept from about 1AM to 6AM in the parking lot of a Love’s Travel Stop.

Then, excited and surprisingly well-rested, we headed toward Saguaro National Park to make it our first stop.

From there, we bounced around to Petrified Forest, Monument Valley, Canyonlands, Arches, Bryce, Capitol Reef… and so many others. I can’t wait to jabber all about it.

The West: Red Hills district

Saguaro is split in two parts with Tucson, AZ right smack-dab in the middle. It’s about a 90 minute drive from the West visitor center to the East visitor center.

We started with the Kings Canyon/Gould Mine trail on the western side of the park. It’s about 2.5 miles long and took us a little over an hour with all of the picture taking.

At the entrance of the trail, there’s a guestbook to sign in to the area and a sign reminding you that it’s a quiet trail and not to make too much unnecessary noise.

It was here that we realized just how intensely, densely packed the saguaro cacti are here. I mean – duh, the name – but I personally couldn’t fathom it in person. Almost every piece of green is a saguaro cacti. They’re more pervasive here than in any other spot on Earth.

At one point, you’re able to walk a little off-trail and up to an old brick structure that seems like it was, or still sometimes is, used for storage.

It was really excited to be back in the land of cholla cactus too! They’re my favorite plant, specifically the ‘teddy bear’ variety. The last time I saw them was when we were in Joshua Tree in January 2024.

The trail itself was chill – packed down sand, plenty of rocks at the beginning as you go uphill toward the main view (just like at home!), but then levels out and becomes an easy walk for the rest of the way. There’s no shade, but it was still early enough in the year (and in the day) to not be too hot, and it was pretty breezy.

We had the trail to ourselves, but by the time we returned to the parking lot it was filling up with people starting their day.

We headed to the visitor center to get our National Park passport stamp, our usual stickers and a magnet, and the iconic prickly pear gummy bears – then, off through Tucson to the other side of this awesome place.

The East: Rincon Mountain district

After an hour and a half of driving through Tucson… wherein I bought a new pair of hiking pants because mine ripped in the parking lot of the King Canyon trail (above) before we even started doing anything… we landed at the Broadway trailhead for our next little hike.

This parking area is pretty tiny and is within a fancy-looking private residential area that soon dead ends. I don’t know how popular this place is, but I can imagine that parking here could be a pain at times.

Also, this area was totally disconnected from the visitor center area and we encountered a few people who seemed pretty lost and confused about that.

The trailhead leads to the Pink Hill, Loma Verde, Cholla Trail, and Cactus Forest loop which was our main goal – another 3.5 miles to add to the books.

We had fun scoping out all of the differently shaped saguaro cacti and making fun of how silly they all look. There were plenty of cholla to admire, including two different types that I’d never seen before (and would later learn more about at the visitor center).

We were mainly alone for our entire trek and it was super peaceful out there. I’m so glad that we went at this time of year.

The internal husk of the saguaro is so interesting to me. They’re so strong on the inside and literally have little skeletons inside of them. The hollowed out saguaro logs on the group were also so cool – also they’re HUGE – and I hate how photos can’t do just to seeing that type of thing in person.

We also loved seeing evidence that birds and probably other animals make their nests inside of the saguaro and make their own little apartment holes while the plant itself remains alive. I also loved seeing the bird nests cozied up on top of some cholla cactus.

We stopped at the Red Hills Visitor Center for our second Saguaro passport stamp (it’s different than the one on the other side of the park), I learned about the three different types of cholla cacti, and we headed toward our campground reservations for the night at Schoolhouse Campground/Recreation Site in the Tonto National Forest.

On the way, we passed El Capitan Pass and soaked in the view while we stretched our legs in the windy weather.

I had no expectations, but I figured we’d be good since the place is managed by the National Park Service.

We weren’t disappointed – pretty lake view, picnic table with an awning, and plenty of space for the Expedition which we slept inside of. It was a ghost town here and the few other people that were there were super respectful and quiet. There were two vault toilets and a large dumpster to use.

Right in front of our site was a tiny trail that led to a shoreline where you could see the dock. We hung out there for a while, and by the shoreline closest to our campsite. We were just soaking in the first real night of sleep after a wild the travel day/night less than 24 hours before.

This was our first time where the rental had a huge sun/moon roof. We slept with the cover pulled back this night and admired all of the tiny bright stars in the super National Foresty darkness.

We didn’t know it then, but the next morning was going to be a great one with Petrified Forest National Park sitting up next on the itinerary.

Learn more about Saguaro National Park:
https://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm

Kings Canyon, Sendero Esperanza, and Gould Mine loop via AllTrails:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/gould-mine

Pink Hill, Loma Verde, Cholla Trail, and Cactus Forest Loop via AllTrails:
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/pink-hill-loma-verde-cholla-trail-and-cactus-forest-loop

Schoolhouse Campground via recreation.gov:
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/249291?tab=info