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I have about a thousand pictures from Saguaro National Park and i don’t know if I’ll ever be able to use them all here or share them all in my helpful posts, so today I’m going to share a ton of them just for funsies.
If you’re looking for tips for visiting Saguaro, you won’t find that here but I will have that coming soon. This is really just for fun and to sharenat pictures that I Love. I haven’t done a post like this in probably years because SeO iS sO iMpOrTaNt and no one reads blogs anymore.
I know SEO is important and I know people still read blogs. You’re here, after all, aren’t you? And one of my goals for the next year is to share more fun posts like this because just SEO friendly things is boring.
I know you’ll want to make a trip to Arizona to see Saguaros in real life after seeing these because they’re amazing, but here are a few things and ways to bring them home to you in the meantime:
- Arizona Cactus Country hiking guidebook
- Saguaro NatGeo map
- Saguaro Cactus history book
- Saguaro earrings (tons of great ones on Etsy, too)
- Saguaro etched wineglass
- A saguaro photo print (one of these pictures would be perfect! If you’re ever interested in getting a photo on here printed, reach out and we can work something out!)
There are tons of pictures in here and I’ll add captions to share a little more about each picture. It’s a fun way to get a little more detail that I might not otherwise share.
National Park Pass
If you’re planning on visiting multiple parks (3 or more) on this trip or within the year, I would highly recommend getting a national park pass. It’s $80 but will pay for itself in about three trips to parks.
How many types of cactus can you see here? I see at least four!
Branches of the ocotillo, a huge spiny plant all over southern Arizona and west Texas. I love seeing ocotillos up close. Sometimes they have these little green leaves on them, too.
Spines and ribs of a saguaro cactus. I love getting super close to cactus and feeling the spines.
The Valley View Overlook trail. This is one of the most popular hikes in the park offering sprawling valley views (who would have guessed?)
A view from the end of the Valley View Overlook trail and lots of cute cactus nubbins (that’s what I call the little cactus ball arm things)
The view looking down from the end of the Valley View Overlook trail. Look at how many saguaros there are just right here!
An orange flower blooming on an ocotillo branch. You can see some other blooms in the background.
The picture perfect three armed saguaro. Whenever you see them drawn, this is what they look like. I was excited to see this one.
Just a view of tons of cactus on a hill. I’ll never get sick of seeing so many saguaros.
A cute little hedgehog cactus! These are a little harder to spot, but they’re all over the park, too.
Every time I saw a saguaro with a lot of arms I had to stop and count all of them. They can have 30+ arms sometimes! This one isn’t that high but it’s still very impressive.
More cactus spines and ribs up close
A cutie little coyote on the side of the road. We actually saw two here and hopped out to walk around a little bit here. I loved this area on the west side a lot.
Lots of different types of cactus alone the Sendero Esperanza trail before the Dobe Wash trail split. I love how no matter where you look here you can see so many different kinds of cactus.
If you’ve ever wondered what the end of a saguaro arm looks like, wonder no more! I wanted to touch this so bad but I also didn’t want tons of tiny hair-like spines in my fingers. I don’t know if that would happen but I didn’t want to find out.
Chollas, prickly pears, and Saguaros, oh my!
Some brown spined prickly pear cactus with a tall boi in the background
I love these two cactus a lot, especially next to each other. They’re just perfect.
A buckhorn cholla cactus up close and personal. You don’t want to bump into these bad boys. I brushed against one (not sure exactly which one is was) and was pulling tiny spines out of my knee for like ten minutes.
Barrel cactus spines up close. I won’t lie, the spot where it attaches to the plant really freaks me out. I don’t think I’m trypophobic (10/10 would not recommend looking at Google images there) but I sure don’t like this (but I also love it)
Just a frumpy barrel cactus that I love
Two cute little cactus nubbins up close
Another saguaro I love that’s tall with lots of nubbins, a cholla, and some prickly pears
The nubbins in front of the sky is one of my favorite ways to look at saguaros
On the right between the two baseball bat looking saguaros is palo verde! The bark on those is all green giving it it’s name. Plus two cute barrel cactus in front.
Lots of woodpecker holes in these impressively long saguaro arms. I love seeing all the holes in the cactus. Sometimes owls use them, too.
Here is the whole cactus pictured above. This one is one of my favorites, for sure. I know I say that a lot but it really is.
Just a nice sturdy saguaro surrounded by Sonoran foliage that I also love.
