Tucson’s National Park By: Sage Cutler

Tucson & Saguaro National Park!

Saguaro National Park East

Saguaro National Park West

SNP Tucson has many great places to visit, most of which are places that are very unique to Tucson. One of these unique places is Saguaro National Park (SNP). SNP is placed on both sides of Tucson. It is a very unique park because it is spread out over 2 districts the East District and the West district. The only thing that is keeping the parks separated is Tucson. The park is 91,439 acres(370 sq. km) in total.

The Park

Similarities Saguaro National Park East and West are quite similar. They both have extraordinary trails and views of the natural desert. At the East district, from the visitor’s center you get the most extraordinary sunsets. At the West district, when you are at the top of “Pyramid Peak” you can see everything that is going on around you, like you are looking down from the heavens. Another great example is that both parks have a scenic loop drive that you can access trails and picnic areas with beautiful scenery of the whole park. They also both have exiting Junior Ranger and Cactus Ranger programs where the Cactus Rangers help the new kids become Junior Rangers and help the Junior Rangers become Cactus Rangers. The Cactus Rangers also get to clean up the park by removing non-native plants and bringing Junior Rangers out into the wilderness to learn about the desert and its diversity of life. These are just a few of the great things that these parks have in common.

Hikes

Differences There are also many things that the park differs in. One of these things that Saguaro National Park East has that Saguaro National Park West doesn’t have is grasslands. East is a much flatter district that West, so it has many more grasslands. At West, there are a lot of mountains instead of grasslands. Another thing that West has is a lot of trails. Compared to West, the amount of trails that East has is nothing. East has a lot of adult programs compared to West’s adult programs. West has more kid programs available. Also, East has many more ranger stations and buildings along the trails. When you are at West, there are few buildings but many rangers around to help. West has a smaller car trail and more walking trails, but East has a smaller amount of hiking trails and a bigger car trail. East also has camping and West does not. They also have a different diversity of life. At West, there are bears and mountain lions. At East there are snakes and Gila monsters.

Petroglyphs

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