Come explore with us!
New Year’s Day 2022! After a month in the Tucson area, it was time to move on. Our next destination was one that had been on my bucket list for many years, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The 517 square mile park preserves pristine Sonoran Desert habitat including the majority of the U.S. population of …
We wrapped up our December 2021 stay in SE Arizona by visiting two of Arizona’s lesser known National Park Units, Tumacácori National Historic Park and Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Both park units protect historically significant sites near Tucson. Tumacácori protects the ruins of three missions founded during the Spanish colonial era, including the oldest …
If you’ve ever traveled I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson, you’ve likely noticed imposing Picacho Peak towering above the desert floor just to the west of the interstate. The 1,500 foot peak is the focal point of Picacho Peak State Park. Here you’ll find a great campground, challenging hiking trails, and the site of the western-most …
Nothing symbolizes the American West like the towering saguaro cactus. The iconic cacti are only found in a small portion of the United States and nowhere are they more impressive than at Saguaro National Park. During our December 2021 travels to the Tucson area, we spent a day hiking in each of the park’s two …
Sabino Canyon, located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, is one of the most stunning natural areas in southern Arizona. Beneath towering rock cliffs and surrounded by a desert terrain of saguaros and cholla, you’ll find the riparian corridors of Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon. During our stay at nearby Catalina …
We had a great stay at Kartchner Caverns State Park, but the time had come to explore a new destination. It was a short hour and a half drive up I-10 to our next campsite at Catalina State Park. Catalina is a popular state park located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains just …
Kartchner Caverns State Park in southeast Arizona had served as the perfect basecamp for exploring the area’s state and federal parks. The twelve nights we spent there gave us just enough time to scratch the surface of what this far corner of the state has to offer. We could have easily stayed longer, but it …
Coronado National Memorial was our third National Park Unit visited while based out of Kartchner Caverns State Park in December 2021. Coronado was established to commemorate the Coronado Expedition of 1540 – 1542 and the lasting legacy of the first interaction between Native Americans and Europeans in the American Southwest. The southeast Arizona park offers …
A short distance down the road from our previous adventure at Fort Bowie National Historic Site is one of our favorite units of the National Park System, Chiricahua National Monument. The monument was established on April 18, 1924, to protect an extensive area of rhyolite hoodoos and balancing rocks. We first visited the monument back in March 2012 …
During our stay at Kartchner Caverns State Park, we took a day to visit Fort Bowie National Historic Site near Willcox, Arizona. This National Park Unit preserves the ruins of Fort Bowie and Apache Pass, a location critical to western expansion in the mid-late 1800s and the most contested area during the Apache Wars. Today, …