Saguaro West

Now this is a Big Kahuna saguaro! It's maybe 40 feet tall and 150-200 years old, still thriving in the western section of Saguaro NP. When this cactus was a little stump hunkering down under a shrub, this area a few miles outside Tucson was inhabited mainly by Indians and cowboys, both Mexican and American. There were no Burger Kings. It's defied very long odds to survive and prosper this long.

Saguaro west has some of the densest stands of the namesake cacti in the world. 80 years ago that honor went to Saguaro east, but many of the big, old cacti there were killed by severe frosts in 1937 and 1962; grazing in the then national monument kept many seeds from germinating until 1979, when grazing was stopped. Until '79 the result was a deteriorating, aging cactus forest with fewer plants every year.

By contrast, Saguaro west had large stands of small cacti in the mid 1900s; those have grown into the present big plants. Meanwhile, small young cacti are now more common in Saguaro east, having popped up en masse since 1979. The cactus forest in Saguaro west appears really healthy, with abundant plants of all ages and sizes.

This saguaro is confused on the arm concept. Two of the arms appear to be beckoning and pointing, showing the way to the hiker. The cactus isn't really that friendly; it's probably been frostnipped, causing the arms to sag. Given good weather conditions, the arms may right themselves and once again point skyward.

The tops of young, healthy saguaros have a nice symmetry.