SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK - West | Signal Hill, Overlook, Discovery Trail, Gould Mine Trail

SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK - West | Signal Hill, Overlook, Discovery Trail, Gould Mine Trail | Tucson, AZ

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Күн бұрын

Saguaro National Park, broken into west and east sections, offers many trails, views, and well... saguaros! We set out to explore some of the quick stops one finds in the western section of the national park.
There is no other symbol more synonymous with the Sonoran Desert than that of the Saguaro cacti. With two parks to the west and east of Tucson, AZ, there are miles of trails to get close and experience the ultimate Southwest icon.
The west side of the park is the smaller of the two at about 25,000 acres. Here visitors will see a higher density of younger saguaro at a lower elevation.
If you're looking to see the highest density of saguaros, look no further than the Valley View Overlook Trail. The trail is a quick 0.8-mile out and back trail with minimal elevation that reveals a vast view of the valley below dotted with saguaros as far as the eye can see. Benches and rocks allow hikers to sit, take a deep breath and enjoy the scenery.
Should you be desiring a touch of history on your visit, the Signal Hill Trail has you covered. This stop is super quick at 0.3-miles with 26 feet of elevation. At the end is a cluster of rocks featuring Hohokam petroglyphs and views of the surrounding mountains.
Within this side of the park is the Desert Discovery Trail. This trail is an easy 0.4-mile paved loop trail with educational signs explaining the flora and fauna of the area. This trail makes a great start to any visit to this national park.
One of the more interesting hiking trails is the King Canyon/Gould Mine Trail. This 2.4-mile loop trail goes by an old mine with the remains of buildings located nearby. The mine dates back to 1906 when S.H. Gould created a mining company in hopes of finding precious metals. Unfortunately for him, only copper was found and the cost of mining quickly outweighed the amount of return.
VIDEO FILMED: 01/29/2022
▬▬ L O C A T I O N I N F O ▬▬
⚪ Saguaro National Park (West) - www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm
⚪ Directions to Saguaro National Park (West) - goo.gl/maps/mH8BsRBJdxLSTNSk7
▬▬ T I M E S T A M P S ▬▬
00:00 Intro
00:30 Signal Hill Trail
07:10 Valley Overlook Trail
09:17 Discovery Trail
13:20 Gould Mine Trail
▬▬ L I N K S ▬▬
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⚪ See where we've been - www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mi...
⚪ Music from Epidemic Sound - www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
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Welcome to the Cactus Atlas! We are Glenn and Amy and invite you to join us as we visit all sorts of locations across the American West. We tour both natural and man-made attractions.
Our base of operations is in the Phoenix, AZ area. We do a lot of hiking and day trips as well as campground reviews and hope that we will be a great resource if you are planning a trip to the American West. We also hope to delight you with our exciting adventures!

Пікірлер: 51

@jameshouse1268 4 ай бұрын

I’ve got a similar experience to your opening story. I didn’t visit Saguaro NP for many years, but after being there I’ve had several hiking trips there. Each one was amazing!..another one coming in sometime this month. The vast area covered with saguaro is outstanding. Your video captures the essence of the park and gives viewers a nice overview. Thanks, Glenn, and take care always.

@CactusAtlas 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing! We still need to get out to the other side of the park. 👍

@lzwnn Жыл бұрын

The saguaro are such magnificent guardians of desert secrets!

@user-pq9ee1uc6m 9 ай бұрын

I don’t know how this doesn’t have more views by now. Excellent video.

@CactusAtlas 9 ай бұрын

Wow, thank you! That means a lot. 😊

@SomeplaceOrAnother 2 жыл бұрын

It is amazing to see so many saguaro 🌵 in one place 😎😀

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

They're a lot more dense there than here in Phoenix, that's for sure! 😅

@metingokbulut837 10 ай бұрын

no strings ingiliss 🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷💯💯💯💯💯👍👍👍👍👍

@Linda-akaLinnie Жыл бұрын

What an awesome video! I hit that subscribe button quickly!!!

@CactusAtlas Жыл бұрын

Awesome! Thank you! Welcome aboard! 😄

@altermannzockt361 2 жыл бұрын

We will be visiting the southwest of the USA for the first time this summer and planning the places we want to visit is very much influenced by your excellent videos. Thank you so much for this!

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Wow! Thank you! So happy that we could help out in any way. We hope you have a great trip this summer and stay cool when you're here. Summers can be pretty hot. 😄

@SwiftyTravels 2 жыл бұрын

I’m so glad they preserved this area as a National park. I’ve been wanting to go back here. Its been many many years. Our mountains have similar ‘rock houses’ as we call it and they were built by the conservation corps- but I can’t remember why they were built. You were probably sand blasted but I thought the wind was very hypnotic 😍

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

The houses have a distinct Civilian Conservation Corp look to them, I'll admit. Just need too go to the eastern side of the park now. 😊

@lethrbear32 Жыл бұрын

The spiral means snakes, youre in a snake area too.. The 4 legged animal is antelope, and you got the tortoise shell correct.

@gstiles7 2 жыл бұрын

nice trip, get's me all nostalgic for my good ol' college days down there at U of A!

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Really so many places out there that we need to check out. So little time! 😂

@SidetrackAdventures 2 жыл бұрын

Love Saguaro National Park but always manage to get there when its a little hot to do much hiking. Haven't checked out the eastern part though. Great video as always.

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! I can see it not being a great place for summer visits. Without a decent reprieve from the heat the idea of hiking doesn't appeal so much. 😅

@jbthor9032 11 ай бұрын

Yeah that happened to me once back in 1985. A friend a I were rabbit hunting out in the Mojave desert and the sun was going down and getting dark out. Walking back to the car I ran into a cactus and a needle went right into my knee. It's painful trying to pull the needle out. Owie Owie Outch.

@CactusAtlas 11 ай бұрын

OUCH. Totally relate. Anytime we do yard work it's highly likely that a large cactus needle will go through a shoe. Happened just a few weeks ago. 😅

@jbthor9032 11 ай бұрын

Yep, cactus are pretty to look at, but don't touch.

@DovieRuthAuthor 2 жыл бұрын

All of your travels have got me collecting cacti. Haha! I thought they would take a long time to grow, but they're surprising me. I think a giant Saguaro might be out of the realm of possibilities.

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

How awesome! We're planning on getting some different kinds for our yard eventually. If we can ever find time to get that project started. 😅 On top of being expensive, saguaro are pretty picky about where they grow. Going up north there's a distinct line in elevation where they just stop. We always like to try and spot the last cactus as we drive up. Fun fact - we almost named our channel "The Last Cactus" because of that game! 😂

@marshmallows5641 2 жыл бұрын

So beautiful!

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! 😊

@suelittle1561 2 жыл бұрын

I'm not used to seeing you without a hat on,. Lol

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

😂 There's a few videos of ours where Glenn isn't wearing a hat but, yeah, it's sunny out here so usually there is one. 😄 Thanks so much for watching!

@dorothylewis1207 Жыл бұрын

And he has HAIR! 😆😆😆

@toshibavoodoo 2 жыл бұрын

Just added this location to my BUCKET ROAD TRIP list!

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome! We're hoping to making it back to the east side to compare parks. Not sure when but hopefully before things heat up too terribly out here. Thanks for watching! 😄

@adventureawaits5003 2 жыл бұрын

Those cactus are amazing nice video 👍

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@IronHorsefan1869 Жыл бұрын

75 years is exactly when they start growing arms

@sandin6689 2 жыл бұрын

Visited there one summer...it was 115°. Magnificent. Make sure to visit the TITAN MISSILE MUSEUM south of Tucson

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Ouch! That's pretty warm especially without much shade out there. We've visited the Titan Missle Museum a number of times in the past... just haven't filmed it yet as it is a guided tour and requires a bit more planning b/t the two of us to make sure we get everything filmed the first time. It's being planned though! 😄

@dorothylewis1207 Жыл бұрын

Those drawings tell where the "water" is. 🤪🤪🤪

@robertallen6710 2 жыл бұрын

Not an expert either Glenn, but have studied petroglyphs enough to know there are definitely some archaic ones in there. Archaic meaning from the time of Christ backwards. There are certain 'designs' that more recent natives avoided duplicating for one reason or another. That 'wagon wheel' one @4:50 is similar to examples dated 5000 years ago or more. Those spirals are ancient too...nice video and thanks!

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you like our video. 😊 I was actually watching a documentary (granted on a different group in a different area) last night while Glenn was busy and I've got some different ideas about the meaning (or use) behind some of the petroglyphs but I imagine similar shapes meant different things from group to group. Probably won't ever know for sure unless time travel becomes possible. 😅

@markgorton5865 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tour of the West park. Going to have to get there soon. I need more vacation time to make a dent in the growing list of places you are making me want to go to. No excuse to not check this one off this year though. Did you get to an Eegees while in Tucson?

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

No, no egees this time, but they have one in Casa Grande that is on the way home that we often stop at. I hear you about vacation time. It’s hard finding time to do this stuff!

@JillianCampsArizona 2 жыл бұрын

I personally prefer the East section but the west has so much to offer. I just wonder why they didn’t pave the road in the western part, it doesn’t make sense when the road is paved on the east side?! Love these hikes however! 😊

@CactusAtlas 2 жыл бұрын

We were hoping to visit both sides but ran out of time that trip. All the more reason to go back! 🤣 Really not sure why one side is more developed than the other.

@graciel3725 4 ай бұрын

Hey Glen, where did you live before Arizona?

@desert-walker 4 ай бұрын

You walked right by 1 million petroglyphs in that wash before you start going up to that house wonder why you didn’t show that?😊

@CactusAtlas 4 ай бұрын

Sometimes it's due to a lack of time. Sometimes it's due to bigger plans later on, and keeping the focus of a video to one thing. Sometimes we just miss things. We always enjoy returning to places though. 😄👍

@DC-ef8op Жыл бұрын

what month is this

@CactusAtlas Жыл бұрын

We list the dates we film in the description of each video to help viewers. 😊

@lalalisa9307 Жыл бұрын

I always thought it was just graffiti because they didn’t have a lot in their world at that time besides nature stuff and designs and I think that it’s just young teenagers bored