As I stated in the last post, the Saguaro National Park is a bit unusual because it is actually divided into two sections. The west area was made into a National Monument in 1933 and was changed to a National Park in 1994. The Tuscon Mountain district or West side is actually the older of the two and is smaller with only a 4 mile drive through the park.

For us at least this park was way more congested and part of that might have been there are no mandatory fees, but rather a pay in the visitor center option which frankly folks don’t have to do. The visitors center was ok, but aside from the beautiful viewing area outside, I found the East visitors center more informative.

Once again we started along the drive and we took side trips into the picnic areas so we could walk around. The mountain views were pretty stunning as we drove along and once again great Saguaros.

The biggest difference in the two parks was how not dog friendly this side was. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence, but Jack got zero paw stickers on the East side but we didn’t get out of the visitors center parking lot before he got his first nasty sticker. The entire day was super challenging as everywhere we tried to walk him involved stopping every few feet to remove a nasty throne of some kind. Finally we just left him in the car because he seemed as unhappy about it as we were and consequently it just wasn’t as enjoyable for any of us.

Don’t get me wrong it was still pretty but maybe because it was older, or maybe just the different in location you really had to be careful wherever you stepped. There are many trails we could have tried but almost every area you could stop was full of cars so ultimately we didn’t stay long at many view points.

Since the park is so small make sure you don’t skip the picnic area, because they have some pretty spectacular views. The highlight though was of course the Saguaro’s and below is one of my favorites. If you only have time for one part of the park I would absolutely recommend the East side though, but again that’s just my personal preference.

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