Saguaro National Park East: Video Transcript & Map
Introduction
Hi, my name’s Tyler Ford, Tucson, Arizona, with eXp Realty. And today, I’m at Saguaro National Park, East, which is a favorite place for people that live in Tucson and also people traveling to Tucson. They come and check out the park because it’s absolutely beautiful. You can ride your bike, you can run it, you can walk it, you can drive it, but it’s well worth it. It’s really pretty, tons of saguaro cactuses. It’s on the East side of Tucson at the base of the Rincon Mountains. So check it out.
Important Things You Need To Know About Saguaro National Park
To get in, you will need to either pay just the daily rate to get in. For cyclists and walkers, it’s $15. What I do is I just, because I spend a lot of time out here, I buy the annual pass to all the state parks across the country. But you can ride it anywhere from Tucson. I like to ride it from my house, do the loop or multiple loops, and ride home. The loop is about eight miles. So I’m going to give you a tour of the loop. And in the show notes, there’s the profile and just a map of it. So you can scroll below in the show notes to check it out. So come on, come on for the ride.
Hey, one thing I forgot to mention, right at the beginning of the ride, there’s a steep downhill, and it turns sharp to the right, so you want to control your speed. If it catches you off guard, you’re going to end up in the cactus and pulling stickers out of your butt. So just be careful right at the beginning.
So one thing you need to be careful of, I ride a lot in the morning, and in the morning there’s not traffic. But you need to be careful, if you’re cruising, there’s some pretty good little descents. You can turn a corner and sometimes the cars, sightseers are stopped, and you got to be super, super careful. So in the morning, typically not a big deal, but in the afternoon, especially in the fall, winter, and spring, when there’s a lot of tourists, you want to be real careful of the cars.
Yeah, baby, there's nothing better than a bike ride in Tucson in the winter time, in the afternoon.
Have A Picnic In Saguaro National Park
There’s a couple places in the park, if you’re driving or just visiting on your bike, and you want to do a little picnic or maybe park and go for a run, there’s a ton of trails out here as well. So there’s some great trail runs, hiking. So there’s two places in a park. This is about two, a little over two miles into it. It’s Mica View. There’s a dirt road that takes you down to a picnic area, and there’s a bathroom. So you can enjoy your day if you’re sightseeing and want to visit.
So today, right now, it’s a middle of January, so it’s a January day in Tucson, Arizona. It’s beautiful. It’s about 71 degrees. And this time of year, it’s pretty busy in here just because we’ve got the winter visitors. But in the summertime, I enjoy this first thing in the morning, about 4:45, 5:00, right when the sun’s coming up. It’s beautiful. The sun’s just coming up over the Rincons, which the Rincons are east of Tucson, so they’re behind me, Rincons. And then Mount Lemmon is to the north of Tucson, which is behind me. It’s a lot bigger than it looks.
But the nice thing about Tucson, it’s really easy to navigate because Mount Lemmon is due north, and then the Rincons is east. And our roads run parallel exactly east-west and north-south, so it’s really easy to see, get your way around Tucson, be able to just find Mount Lemmon, and that’s due north. So if you’re coming to visit Tucson, Saguaro National Park definitely a place to check out, east side of Tucson
Saguaro National Park Cactus Forest Trail
At about 2.8 miles, there’s a trail called the Cactus Forest Loop, and it’s actually longer. We pick it up at a Speedway a lot, and we’ll run the entire Cactus Forest. It’s an eight mile, four miles out, four miles back, so eight miles. But there’s a little section in the middle that they allow people to mountain bike. It’s the only section in the park that you can mountain bike in.
And a lot of times, what we like to do is jump on our mountain bikes from home. We’ll do the loop, and then we’ll do out and backs in that little mid section on our mountain bikes. It’s a great little interval workout. There’s some rollers, a good little climb, so great, great little section for all you mountain bikers out there to check out. But it’s 2.8 miles into the loop, it’s called the Cactus Forest Trail.
The Climb Section of Saguaro National Park
At about 3.5 miles into the ride, you’re going to start to climb. There’s a good climb right in the middle, and it’s kind of a stair-step climb. You’re going to climb up, it kind of flattens out, and then another climb. And I’ve been doing this ride for 30 years. It’s one of my favorite rides. And I am drawing a blank on the distance, but when I get to the top, I will let you know.
You’re Alex?
It’s Saguaro National Park, East out here. It’s fantastic. You can’t find a better place to run, walk, hike, and particularly bike on this trail. This eight mile can be a killer, but man, it will get you in shape. Have a great day. Bike out.
Thanks, Alex. Have a good one.
Yeah.
So I’m at the top of the climb. It’s right at five miles, so that makes that climb about a mile-and-a-half. And I looked at my Garmin, it’s about 400 feet. So you do 400 feet in about a mile-and-a-half. So just to let you know, but it’s a good little climb. It’s not super steep. There’s a climb, and then a little roller, and then another climb. So you’re looking at about a mile-and-a-half in about 400 feet.
So after the climb, there’s a good little descent where you pick up some pretty good speed. So you want to be careful. One year, I was cruising and some javelinas, I was probably going about 30, 35 miles an hour, and some javelinas is came running out, so be a little bit careful.
Wildlife In The Park
And the other thing, you’re going to see a lot of wildlife. Depending on the time of the year, you’re going to see javelina. You’re going to see rattlesnakes. You’re going to see Gila monsters. Those are my favorite. They’re really pretty, kind of rare to see. Deer. So just tons of wildlife as well. So I’m starting to descent, you can hear me picking up speed
At 6.9 miles into the ride, there’s a turn to the left that you can do. It’s an out and back. It’s probably total mileage is about maybe three-quarters of a mile. It’s a good little out and back section that I like to do sometimes. And at the end of the out part, there’s a picnic area, and there’s a trail head. It’s the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail, which is a popular hike in Tucson. It takes you up the Rincons over into Douglas Springs. So if you want a little extra miles, you can do this little out and back section. There’s a picnic area. You can even drive in the park, park there, have a little picnic, and start your bike ride from there. So check that out.
Hope You Enjoyed Learning More About Saguaro National Park
Hey, Tyler. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. It never, ever gets old. I’ve been doing it for 30 years. So it’s exactly eight miles and about 650 feet of climbing. That’s the entrance to get in. So just be prepared to either pay or right behind me you can see what the fees are, so you’ve got to pay to get in. But it never, ever, ever gets old. So if you liked it as much as I did, go ahead and like it, and also subscribe to learn more about living in Tucson and Tucson real estate.
I’m going to do a little panoramic here. So directly east is the Rincons and then behind me is Mount Lemmon. And then, there’s also a visitors center where there’s a lot of good stuff where you can learn more information about all the animals, the Sonoran Desert, all that kind of good stuff. And then, the sun is setting in the background, but it’s really pretty, and like I said, it never gets old.
So if you’re coming to Tucson, you’ve got to check out Saguaro National Park, East. There’s also a park on the West. It’s not as pretty as this, but it’s also worth checking out. So hope you enjoy.
Saguaro National Park Map & Elevation Profile
Contact Tyler Ford
Get Social
