Arizona Photos: Steve's First 36 Hours in Tucson, Arizona
Click any image in the left column to view it at a larger size. A new window will open.
Visit to Saguaro National Park East
January 2007 - Considering I live in
Colorado, it was
very pleasant to arrive in Tucson with high temperatures in the 70's most days. I have been
to Arizona on a few occasions, but had never visited the city of Tucson.
I really must give special thanks to Joel Smith, a local resident and "regular" on the
Cactus Lovers Forum
who took me in and showed me around town.
After having lunch on the first day I arrived, we immediately set out for Saguaro National
Park East. These four adjacent photos were my best ones. All of the photos on this page
were taken in the first 36 hours of my arrival! :)
The saguaros that dominate the landscape in and around Tucson are definitely the big
catch, but I found these large
golden barrel cacti
to be particularly endearing. I feel like I made a new friend in the Arizona desert! :p)
Photos From The Tucson Mountains
The next morning, I set out for the Tucson Mountains (west of Tucson) and planned to hike
to the summit of Golden Gate Mountain, the largest peak on the left.
Up on a pointed hill not far from Gates Pass,
I snapped this shot of Golden Gate Mountain.
Near the beginning of the hike, the morning sun
shined perfectly on this large prickly pear cactus!
Wowwee! Look at all those saguaros!
It was somewhere around this point that I turned around. The Golden
Gate Trail pretty much disintegrated near a few
boulders about 50% of the way up.
The trail is poorly marked with almost no signage except at the very beginning;
I plan to return, hike to the summit and
give a much more detailed report about how to safely reach the summit.
It was my first morning in Arizona and of course, I focused quite a bit
on photographing saguaros.
I captured the same saguaro with six arms on one side from two very different angles.
Prickly pear cacti grow like weeds in this part of southern Arizona!
Back at a pointed hill near Gates Pass, this is the view
looking out towards the valley. The area out there with the few buildings is the Old Tucson Studios.
Here's one photo as my friend Joel and I
were exiting the
Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. I'm telling you, if you love desert,
this particular area (encompassing Saguaro National Park West) is
definitely worth visiting! :)
-Photos and commentary by Steve Garufi. His Arizona photography web site is www.Arizona-Photos.com.