April 4-8, 2026
Catalina State Park is 10-15 miles north of Tucson. At one stage in my career I lived in the Marriott Tucson for about a year and a half. Despite living here I never visited Saguaro National Park. I also have former colleagues in the area that I planned to meet up with. Catalina State Park was a good stop, I’ll be back.
Saguaro National Park
I din’t know that there were two sides of Saguaro National Park. There is one on the east side of Tucson and one on the west; they are about 30 miles apart. I visited the east side first.
The main thing here is an 8 mile loop road with pull offs and interpretive sign posts. There were a lot of bicyclists on the loop. There are a few trails to hike and I would have hiked one but the trail heads were full as I drove the loop. There is also back country camping as the park extends into the nearby foot hills.
It was about an hour drive to the west side.
The west was similar in that there is a loop road (unpaved) with pull offs and a few trail heads. I did hike one of the trails – it was fairly short. How many pictures of Saguaro can one take.
Catalina State Park Trails
I hiked the Bridal Trail, Nature Loop, and Birding Trail. More cactus.
And my first effort rattlesnake spotting. It was actually pointed out to me by another hiker – I would have walked right past it.
The saguaro sure can get big. They are 60% water.
The next day another hiker point out this Great Horned Owl and nest. I took this picture on my out.
And a few hours later I took this one. The baby was out.
The only thing spotted on the birding trail was more Saguaro.
