Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Saguaro National Park is divided into two parks, east part and west part. We stayed there for two nights during the Memorial Day weekend. The temporature was high 97 degrees. Needless to say, hiking was not enjoyable at all.

There were numerous Saguaro tree in west park, which was truely impressive and interesting. The trip was total worthwhile. I found two sunset locations were the best. One was on Signal Hill; another one was along the Valley View Overlook Trail. Although we got up at 4 AM, we did not find a really good sunrise location in this park because sunlight was blocked by hills.

My feeling was that the east park did not offer as much as west park. I guess it was mainly for backpacking. Without water along the trail, however, backpacking in desert won't be fun. The number of Saguaro tree in east park seemed significantly less than west park. If I visit this park again, I would probably just stay in the west park. A ranger mentioned a very good location for sunrise. It was along the Hope Camp Trail. However, the park was so inconvenient that a few places had locked gate before sunrise. To watch sunrise at Hope Camp Trail, we would have to find a motel close to trailhead. Before sunrise, we would have to park the car out of the locked gate then hike to the trail head. We eventually gave it up.