West Saguaro National Park - Arizona
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Waking up in Arizona, the weather had dropped significantly from the day before. Thankfully not as far as it was now getting in New Mexico, so our plan had somewhat worked. However the Wildfires had now caught in neighbouring California and in Arizona we had high winds whipping up dust clouds across the desert plateaus. The air quality levels reaching “Hazardous” levels as a result was a bit alarming.
So, finding ourselves in a climate disaster fuelled sandwich, we decided to have a well deserved chill out day in the van. A long slow morning followed by a drive 10 minutes to the West Saguaro National Park visitor centre. With not much else to do and this being our last national park, we spent far too much at the gift shop and added another sticker to our water bottles.
Afterward we decided to at least try one of the unpaved roads up to a short trailhead. The wind was ridiculous and we tried to wait it out a bit whilst eating lunch in the van. When we got out to brave it, a man in red cold weather jacket, Jumbo Coffee thermos mug in hand and sporting a cap emblazoned with the words “Vietnam Veteran”, caught us and exclaimed “have you driven this all the way from Delaware?!”.
For context, the rental van’s licence plate is a Delaware plate, and so being this far south west of its home state, we do get some fascinated people asking similar questions. However, after explaining it was a rental and that we were Brits and had travelled from Austin, we got to talking with the guy, Randall. The next thing he said was “please know, we didn’t all vote for him”, this being the week the 2024 US election was ratified for Trump’s return to the Whitehouse. Naturally we got along quite well, in part due to some shared views on the politically state of our respective countries, combined with that sense of humour all too familiar amongst those of us who’ve served in the armed forces. We ended up chatting for a while in the dusty, cold gales that were blowing across the trailhead. Turns out he’d been a teacher in Delaware after leaving the army, and had moved to Arizona on retirement as his native California has become too expensive. Hence his interest in the van from a state he spent a significant portion of his career in.
We bid a fond farewell to Randall, who reiterated his apologies and displeasure at his incoming head of state. Onward up the trail… for about 15 minutes before the wind picked up even further. We called it a day and decided to continue the chilled out day we had originally intended. Upon returning to the trailhead though we found a note under the wiper from Randall with his details and an invitation to reach out “when you return to the colonies, if you would like a tour of the local area”.
This was very kind of you Randall, and we shall be sure to reach out if we’re back in Arizona as it was a pleasure talking with you.
The next day was far more productive. The wind had died down and the temperatures were back in the teens again. So we got up early and headed to the visitor centre to refill our drinking water before heading to the Kings Canyon trailhead on the edge of the park.
Following a series of different trails we worked our way amongst the Saguaro Cacti, stopping periodically for a breather and for far too many Cactus pose videos for our Instagram account. We eventually made it to our lunch stop at the top of Wasson Peak, the highest mountain in the west Saguaro National Park. An amazing spot with 360° views out around the plains surrounding the national park and Tucson. I could’ve sworn I could make out the area of the infamous Tombstone (gunfight at the OK corral) on the horizon, but Ellen would certainly tell you I was talking out my backside.
Nonetheless, the views were spectacular. Made all the more surreal considering we were currently, after 2.5 hours of hiking, effectively the same altitude we had stayed at not 2 days prior on a plateau with mountains alongside!
The decent was just as spectacular. However, we soon discovered that the northern faces were rather exposed. The first clue should have been the lack of saguaro cacti along these parts of the trail. The second was the sudden biting cold whisking in at great pace. Needless to say we sped through these sections of the trail to get back into the wind shadow on the southern faces as fast as we could.
This took us down past the old Gould mine (not a typo of 'gold'). A few old stone walls remained, along with a small building shell and the huge spoil heap below the now metal grate covered mine shaft. Ellen couldn’t resist dropping a stone through the grate and I have to admit, we were quite shocked by how long it took to reach the bottom and subsequently grasped tighter to our phones and other loose items.
Winding further down the trail we eventually ended up back at the Van to put our feet up for a bit and discuss what to do next.
Nothing. Do nothing was the decision. I had thought maybe we could try the 90 minute drive to Tombstone. But in all honesty, we were shattered and Ellen was right, another chilled evening was definitely required. As such, we headed back to camp saguaro whilst the sun was still shining to enjoy the last of the Arizona sun, albeit rather chilly. Annoyingly, as Ellen started on dinner the host lit the communal fire pit next to our pitch. As such, by the time we had finished eating, the other guests had returned to the warmth of their vans and the fire was on the last embers of the last log.
But us Brits are unfettered by a slight chill of course! So Ellen and I took our remaining log from the last night, a cider each and the remaining two firefighters and headed to the plastic adirondacks encircling the Pig-shaped fire pit. The log caught, but still unsatisfied, Ellen headed back to the van to scrape together exactly $10 in cash to buy another pack of logs from the honesty pot supply on site. We emptied the whole stack onto the fire and after a few minutes we were fully ablaze.
I’d love to tell you we were joined by a host of other guests, marvelling at our pyrotechnical prowess upon whom we could regale tales of our adventures thus far… but no. It remained just the two of us, embarrassingly inebriated off of a single cider each, sat burning our shins and eyes on the pig shaped inferno beneath the starlight. Still, a great night! 😅
This was our last night in the far west as the next day would take us on the long road back east toward Texas and San Antonio… wait… I said the next day, I meant the next TWO days!
