Sahuaro National Park--East

Here are some pictures from my little walk around the Cactus Forest of Sahuaro National Park East (Rincon District).  There were so many types of cactus! 

A giant chainfruit cholla, with prickly pear on the side and a youngish sahuaro hiding in the back to the right.

A barrel cactus with lots of fruit next to a palo verde tree with an old saguaro in the background

Funny Story...

I was impressed by the diversity, but I've lived in Arizona most of my life.  The car in front of us on the scenic loop was more than impressed.  More like flabbergasted. 

We came upon them when they were stopped, taking pictures madly from their windows.  Then they took off, driving at a breakneck speed of about 3 miles per hour.  Then they stopped again.  We figured they had to have seen some animal, but no...just cactus.  We weren't too annoyed, since their license plate said Florida and we felt proud to show off our state.  They finally got to a place wide enough for us to pass and we did. 

About 2 miles in, we came to the Mica View trailhead/picnic ground.  We took a nice little stroll, slowly admiring the cactus, inspecting plants, pondering different types of cholla and prickly pear, excitedly discovering blooming Christmas cactus, which we rarely see.  Then I took off on a somewhat faster walk around a loop trail. Almost an hour an a half later I got back.  Florida was just arriving!

They took an hour and a half to drive two miles!  Awesome! 

Take all the time you want, non-Arizonans.  Our cactus is super cool. 

A closer look at the chainfruit cholla

Some sort of purple cholla.  Buckhorn that's turned purple because of drought?

Christmas cholla--with seasonal red fruit

The newer spines of a young sahuaro

Barrel cactus with its wicked fishhook spines and beautiful fruit

Visit Sahuaro National Park:  https://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm