Saguaro Cactus – The Wandering RVer

Sky Island Scenic Byway

Liz and I parted company at Javelina Rocks and made tentative plans for the following day to take a drive on the Sky Island Scenic Byway. Once she checked her schedule, it turned out we just couldn’t make it work, but I was determined to go anyhow. I’m SO glad I did!

I could have titled this post “From Saguaros To Snow in 25 Miles” because it would be a perfect description of this drive in late March.

Starting just outside of Tucson, the Sky Island Scenic Byway winds its way up Mount Lemmon, ending in the beautiful town of Summer Haven.

Looking out over the suburbs of Tucson, I could imagine Steve hard at work, but I soon left those thoughts behind as I started up Mount Lemmon. The drive begins with a vast saguaro forest…

As I entered the first scenic outlook, I was marveling at the wildflowers and cacti framing the views…

As I gained altitude, the cacti began lessening, but the wildflowers painted the hillsides in beautiful shades of orange and yellow…

At another scenic overlook, I found a trail leading to a small creek. I shouldn’t have been too surprised since the snow melt would need somewhere to go.

The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of bicycle traffic climbing the mountain. There were several groups of cyclists and quite a few individuals as well. I can tell you with certainty that I will stick to climbing the mountain in the Jeep!!!

The higher I climbed, the more boulder formations I began to see and the views became panoramic…

One rock formation in particular caught my attention. I imagined what the view would be like if I could climb it…

There is an app you can download and listen to as you ascend, but I didn’t find out about it until I stopped at the ranger station about half way up. It would have been interesting to listen to it explain the geography, flora and fauna.

At one of the overlooks, someone was kind enough to take my picture…

And I couldn’t help but taking pictures of the groups of people who had climbed some of the rocks to take selfies…

As I neared Summer Haven, I began to see patches of snow. After seeing cacti and wildflowers, to me, the snow seemed out of place…

Summer Haven is a cute town with a general store, resort lodges and, of course, restaurants. When I reached the end of the Sky Island Scenic Byway, it was time to reverse my course and head back down Mount Lemmon.

I stopped at the Inspiration Rock Picnic Area and found all kinds of cool/funky colored rocks. Many of them glistened in the sunshine. I tried to take pictures but they just didn’t do it justice.

I was cruising along at the posted speed limit of 35 mph when this bicycle passed me like I was parked…

I’m still going to go with “No thanks” on biking the mountain!

There are many area to pull off the road for pictures…

But sometimes there just isn’t and room and you have to be content with a “thru the windshield shot”

This is a one way record of my travels. As you can see, it only took me an hour on the way back down. I wish I had thought to record the entire trip since I was gone most of the day.

When I got back to Waldo, I texted Liz and thanked her again for the suggestion of driving the byway. With only another day or two in Tucson, we decided to meetup for lunch. She suggested her family’s favorite little Mexican restaurant with the promise of great food and a prickly pear margarita. I enjoyed meeting her daughter and seeing her and Lenny again!

Notice the matching prickly pear margaritas!

And her suggestion to try the “Tucson Dog” was spot on!

With hugs all around, we parted ways with the hope of seeing each other down the road somewhere.

The rally had come to an end and it was time to start our way back east. The entire journey so far had been about reaching Tucson on March 18th, but now it became about meeting friends in Waco for the total eclipse on April 8th!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Tucson and, maybe found something to add to your next trip though Arizona!

Coming Up…

Another National Park checked off the hit list!

Adventuring Solo

Ever since leaving Florida, we have been making our way westward with the goal of reaching Tucson on March 18th. Steve would be working for Briter Products, a lithium ion battery company at an FMCA Rally. Since what I know about installing batteries, inverters and such is zilch, I would have several days on my own.

My first priority was to head to the post office to get those “special bolts” I’d been waiting for. When Steve ordered them, I looked up the closest post office to the Pima County Fairgrounds, where the rally was being held and told him to use that address. Silly me!! A little about Tucson Post Offices: there are 5 of them, one of them is within the Davis Mountain Air Force Base, completely inaccessible to non-military personnel, and only one of them accepts general delivery I was told. Guess which post office is closest to the fairgrounds, yep, the one on the base. Guess where my bolts were, on base! Long story short, I re-ordered the bolts, under my name because I couldn’t pick up mail addressed to my husband, and had them sent to the only post office accepting general delivery. Sheesh! Who knew this would be such a PIA!?!?!?!?

Interesting side note about Davis Mountain Air Force base, it has the world’s largest military aircraft cemetery.

Anyhow, we already established I couldn’t get on base, so I only got to drive by it. Miles and miles of planes!

In 2022, Steve and I visited Saguaro National Park, I didn’t tell you about it since I was slacking on writing blog posts. I really love the desert southwest, so I decided to revisit. Since we were there in March of 2022 and I would be there, also in March, I’m including some of the pictures from both visits.

I drove the loop trail again and stopped at many of the same locations. March is a great time to visit since it isn’t too hot and the wildflowers are blooming…

The Asian beetle blends in almost perfectly on this Brittlebush flower

But cacti were what I went to see!

Or, how about cacti AND wildflowers…

The barrel cacti had already bloomed, but the fruits were still forming…

You definitely do not want to fall into one of them!

Road runners are one of my favorite birds, but hard to get a good picture. I did see one, resting atop a dead saguaro…

As I was driving along, I thought I saw a saguaro in bloom. Knowing it was pretty early in the year for blooms, I almost didn’t stop to investigate, but I’m sure glad I did! As I was walking back to take a picture, I met a lady, Liz, who also seemed interested in the wildflowers, so I told her what I thought I had seen. Together, we walked a bit further and, sure enough, it was just starting to bloom.

On our walk back to the parking area, I told her all about our nomadic life and adventures. She gave me lots of suggestions of things to see and places to visit while we were in Tucson. She told me about her family and suggested maybe one day while I was there we could adventure together. We swapped phone numbers then she followed me on FB and IG. We said our goodbyes and I headed out.

I took the side road, which goes to a picnic area, and saw my first cristate or crested saguaro…

Zoomed in, I though it looked like an alien. Scientist still aren’t sure what causes this mutation, but I though it was pretty cool. If I had read more on the NPS website, I would have been able to find others in the park.

I was about 3/4 of the way around the Cactus Forest Auto Loop when I received a message from Liz. She and her son were at Javelina Rocks and was wondering if I’d be along soon. I let her know, I was only a few minutes out. When I arrived, it wasn’t hard to spot Liz and her son…

Liz was kind enough to come down to show me the easiest path to climb the formation. Once she pointed it out, she offered to stay below and take a picture of me…

Then she rejoined us and we admired the outstanding view…

It had been a great day. A visit to one of my favorite landscapes and a new friend!

Coming Up…

The Sky Island Scenic Byway