January 6, 2007

January 6, 2007

Our return trip was done in two very long 12-hour driving days with a convenient midway stop in Amarillo. In Amarillo we decompressed by playing several competitive rounds of “Sorry” with our nephew Sean.

Back in Tucson, we are anxious to get back to our outdoor activities. After all this driving lately, we decide to stay close and visit the western half of Saguaro National Park. We head to the west side of Tucson and drive on Gates Pass road over the Tucson Mountains stopping at the turnout on the crest to take some scenic pictures. We head down towards Saguaro Park. Between Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National, this whole area west of Tucson is undeveloped, putting us quickly in the middle of the desert surrounded by thousands of saguaro cacti. We stop at the park visitor’s center to watch their film and get some recommendations on hiking trails. We play tourist first and drive their 6-mile scenic loop. Unfortunately it is unpaved making the drive very bumpy. Along the way we stop and make the quarter-mile hike up to Signal Hill to see some Hohokam Indian petroglyphs (ancient graffiti Aimee calls it). Saguaro West is similar to East, but the concentration of saguaros is noticeably thicker here.

We decide to stretch our legs and hike the King Canyon trail up to Wasson Peak. After hiking uphill for 70 minutes on this generally uninteresting trail, we turn around before reaching the summit. We want to make it back to Gates Pass for its famous sunsets and we are running out of time. At Gates Pass we watch the sun set behind the mountains in the distance. We are disappointed. It is nothing special. Perhaps we need to come back when there are wisps of clouds or dust in the air to provide some color.