These cartoon-like cacti grow only in the Tuscon-Phoenix area of Arizona and there are two National Parks dedicated to their preservation. We toured the east park. This park is very scenic, with paved, rolling roads. Many bicyclists take advantage of the nine mile road through the desert park. Dogs aren't allowed on the road or on the trails so we drove through. Great views of the mountains and saguaro cacti (pronounced sah wah row). Great view of a coyote as it walked across the road in front of our van. Guess that's why dogs aren't allowed out!
These saguaro cacti are 85% water. Their arms always grow upwards. If one of the arms are damaged, they droop until they mend themselves, and they they grow up again. These cactus grow over 50 feet in height. Their root system must be amazingly strong because they grow in nothing, yet they are strong and don't fall over in high winds.
Next we toured the Casa Grande Ruins. These ruins, from the 1300s, are a mystery to archeologists. They know that the Hohokam band lived at this site. This band built adobe houses plus one very large, four storey building. Archeologists don't really know what purpose this big building served but they speculate that is has something to do with astrology since there are holes in the walls that align with the sun during the summer equinox. The size of this big house is really unusual for the time it was built. It's 60 feet wide and four stories high so the walls had to be 4 feet thick. The adobe used in the construction was a form of concrete and it has lasted for over 700 years, baking in the hot desert sun.
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| Ruins with protective cover |
Well, we encountered our first dust storm on the interstate. It was very windy on the I-17 as we drove north. Then, off to the left, we could see a large, reddish cloud hanging over the landscape, obliterating all of the background. Realization dawned on us-DUST STORM. The garmin said the road ahead was closed. We kept driving anyway. As we drove through the storm it seemed to dissipate. Going through the cloud was kind of like driving through fog, except it was reddish.
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| Our camp at sunset |
Well of course "Kimmer" would happen to choose a male cacti to stand in front of - thanks for the warm weather as we just got dumped on again - closures around the County - thank goodness you are not in Japan either ! Keep up with the pics and history lesson - enjoying every minute of it.
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