Saguaro National Park- West

When we arrived in Tucson the first thing we noticed were the giant saguaros all over the sides of the mountains and hills.  We've all seen the cartoon cacti that are shaped like this but it was our first time seeing them in person. Amazingly, they can grow up to 75 feet and can live up to 250 years. They normally don't even sprout arms until they are 75 years old.

Chris next to some young saguaros

We stayed at the Desert Trails RV Park which was just a short drive to Saguaro National Park West. The park has two districts. We unfortunately never made it to the east district and only went to the west park once in our short time in Tucson.

It was a hot day in the desert even though it was early March so we waited to go later in the day and just planned a short hike.

We always have to stop and get a picture with the sign and then get our passport stamped.

Chris at the Red Hills Visitor Center

Up next we did a little of the Bajada Loop Drive.

Then we arrived at the Signal Hill Trail which was just a short 1/2 mile hike. At the highest point of the hike you reach an overlook with some petroglyphs and there are some cool views of the cacti and mountains. The petroglyphs were created by the Hohokam people over 1,000 years ago.

On the drive out of the park we were awed by a breathtaking desert sunset and moonrise. There is nothing quite like them.

It seems like we never have enough time. We would love to go back to Tucson and check out some more of the park.

Have you been? If so what were some of your favorite hikes?

RV Park Review- Saddle Mountain RV Park- Tonopah, AZ

Saddle Mountain RV Park

Check- in Date: 03/12/17
Check-out Date: 04/08/17

Type of Accommodation: Deluxe (more spacious than standard spot) Back-in

Price: $380 + Electric (ours ended up being $115)= $495 for the month

Amenities: Swimming pool, exercise facility, library, basketball courts, tennis courts, pool tables, ping pong tables and more. They also had a "free table" where you can put items you no longer want and take items others have given away. We purged a lot of items on that table.

Wifi/Cell Reception: The cell reception was great. The only FREE wifi in this park is in the clubhouse area. We paid an extra $50 for wifi coverage and it was excellent for streaming!

Favorite places to go/eat in the area:

It' s about a 35 minute drive to any grocery stores, shops or restaurants. Most of these are in neighboring cities.

• Oregano's- amazing salads, deep dish pizza, margaritas and desert.
• Saddle Mountain Brewing Company- Great beers and Chris LOVED their fish and chips.
• Skyline Regional Park- free park with beautiful desert views, picnic areas and lots of hiking trails.
• Desert Diamond Casino- I enjoyed the slots machines, there is NO alcohol on the premises and no table games.  
• The Goodyear Farmers Market
• The Apache Trail and hiking South Mountain in Phoenix, AZ
• Haus Murphy's- delicious german food and beer.

Here is our blog post with more in depth information on these items and more.

Recommended: After a month here were are surprised by our answer...Yes! If you can handle the occasional chicken coop smell and flies.

**WARNING** This RV Park is near Hickman's Egg Farm. It smells ok most of the time but there were certain times of day when the smell hits hard and it smells like you are in a chicken coop. It's pretty bad! There are also lots of flies which was pretty annoying. They kept getting in our rig. The RV Park doesn't allow cancellations so if you get there and can't handle the smell you don't get your money back.

Sign across from the post office