Day 71: Sweltering in the Sonoran Desert

Not hot by Arizona standards, but for an Oregonian, today was warm (especially for November!), about 85 degrees to be exact. Even in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, I felt overheated and parched in the desert sun. It's hard to believe by week's end we will be entering Oregon's polar vortex!

We drove west from Las Cruces and made a beeline for Tucson. By 2:30 we had arrived at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, next to Saguaro National Park. Central Oregon's High Desert Museum is modeled after it, and most of it is outside, in the desert. It was too warm and too late in the day to walk all the trails, but we explored much of it, seeing reptiles, amphibians, the aviary, hummingbirds (more types live here than anywhere else in North America), prairie dogs, beavers, river otters, mountain lions, and of course plenty of cacti. For me, the highlight was simply seeing the saguaro in their natural habitat surrounding the museum. West of Tucson it is a virtual forest of tens of thousands of stately saguaro gracing the slopes of the hills and mountains, along with plenty of prickly pear, cholla, and other exotic-looking succulents.

It was dusk by the time we passed by Saguaro National Park, driving its western border and taking photos of the saguaro in the park. We called it a night in Casa Grande, near Phoenix. Another 355 miles today. My trip total now stands at 10,026 miles.

Cholla and saguaro cacti.

Cotton fields near Marana.