Stopped here, but not the place for us. Too many theme park cronies and high pressure sales. Cute stores, great ice cream and a good BLT and soup lunch at the Chuck wagon. We left quite quickly and do not recommend the stop.
Tucson, Arizona and Saguaro National Park
Stopped at the Saguaro National Park in Tuscon, Arizona. Took the beautiful 8 mile loop drive through the large Saguaro Cactus and other varieties cactus and desert life. Saw the cactus wren and a few other birds yet to be identified.
At 5:30 pm we met the Nat'l Park Rangers at the picnic loop for a sunset hike. Very beautiful desert because they get about 12" of rain per year. Saguaro cactus need water because their internal reeds running up and down the arms are filled with it. The colors at this time of year are beautiful especially at sunset. Many flowers were starting to blossom. Left the park at dark and drove to Redington Rd to find the camping spot we saw on our app. We wanted to rough it in a primitive stop on the mountain before we spent time in the city. NOTE TO ALL: NEVER TRAVEL UP REDINGTON ROAD IN TUSCON, ARIZONA ...LET ALONE AT NIGHT...THE ROAD TURNS IN TO A NIGHTMARE AND SHOULD ONLY BE TRAVELED BY RAZORS OR OTHER OFF ROAD VEHICLES. Our app said 8 miles but we went at least 20+ . The 8 miles must have been as the crow flew! The lights of the city reflect how far up the "cliffy" mountain we really were. Wonder how steep the cliffs we could not see were. The picture below does not show the problem areas...