Our next adventure brought us to the beautiful state of Arizona for fall break. We have had visiting the Grand Canyon on the "must do" with kids list for a long time and we decided to make it a week of exploring this state. Besides the airport, the girls and I have not officially visited! The weather was perfect the entire trip!
We took an early direct flight to Phoenix and landed in the morning leaving plenty of time to maximize the day. We traveled south to Tuscon and to visit the Saguaro National Park just outside the city. We went to the western side where we had read that it had the thickest groves of cacti to see.
The saguaro is a cactus that can grow to be over 4 stories tall (40 feet). It is native to the Sonoran Desert. We read that they can live up to 200 years and they only begin growing their "arms" at around 75 years of age.
Cholla cactus or "teddy bear cactus". This one is not as cuddly as it's nickname and will literally attach to you if you touch them and are difficult to remove from your clothes, hair and skin. They recommend to get a stick or edge to remove the barbed spines as trying to get them off with your fingers will only attach them to your other hand!
Interestingly you can visibly see the periods of drought and rain when observing the cacti. The cactus will shrink when water is scarce and expand when there is rainfall creating a indentation on the spear of the cactus. It can absorb considerable amounts of water and conserve it in a drought.
We all loved seeing the desert...the girls enjoyed the varying cacti immensely.
It is amazing how tall they are when you are right next to them!
Prickly pear cacti
Signal Hill Trail
You can find petroglyphs etched in the rocks on this trail.
These abstract designs are spirals, humans, animals and astrological.
They estimate these to be around 800 years old from the Hohokam culture.
Apparently this is rattlesnake season although we didn't see any on the trails! Thank goodness!
Inside the saguaro are "ribs" that are wood like. The saguaro take years to grow and years to die.
We enjoyed our day hiking, exploring and marveling at the diverse nature of the desert. It was much more "green" and rocky than we realized it would be. Certain plants were also flowering!
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