It is so nice to find ourselves so close to a national park with lots of hiking trails. We started with the west part of Saguaro National Park with its intense amount of saguaro cacti. Red Hills Visitor Center was our first stop to get another America the Beautiful Pass.

Signal Hill was recommended by the volunteer working the map desk for views of petroglyphs, as well as trails out into the desert to see the terrain up-close, so we chose that as our first stop.

Hugh Norris was our next stop where we ate lunch then tried the Bajada Wash Trail. We didn’t get far when we needed to climb large rocks to continue, so we opted for the Hugh Norris Trail. We hiked up stone stairs for one mile with 745 feet of elevation gain, which brought us to the ridge line, then we retraced our steps back to the van. This hike had views and interesting plant life to admire along the way.

I spent one spring break in college out here in the Sonoran Desert where my classmates and I helped gather data for our professor of plant ecology. He was doing a long-term study of plant differences on north and south-facing slopes, and brought out his undergrad helpers each year. We were measuring Sagauro on some crazy slopes and avoiding the cholla plants. They love to share their spines with anything unfortunate enough to brush up against them. They are pretty to look at as long as one keeps their distance.

The taco truck very close to our campground was a lovely stop on the way back for a tasty supper without cooking. Birrieria Guasave 2 is wonderful and we will treat ourselves there again.