Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
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We got up bright and early, stepping out of the campground just as the desert was waking up. A female Gila Woodpecker was perched on top of a nearby saguaro, already going about her morning. With one goal in mind, we headed back to Saguaro National Park and returned to the Desert Discovery Nature Trail, hoping for a sighting of a Saguaro flower. Saguaros don’t usually bloom until late April or May, but I was determined to find one anyway. Not far into the walk, a desert cottontail darted across the trail and vanished into the brush. After scanning what felt like thousands of cacti, I finally spotted an early bloomer. Saguaro flowers open at night and begin to close by the next afternoon, never to reopen again. I had found one partially closed the day before, so coming back early felt like the right move. The plan worked. Totally worth the hunt.
female Gila Woodpecker
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From there, we headed out on the Gould Mine Trail, accessed near our campground. The 3 mile trail winds through open desert and low hills, eventually reaching the remains of an old copper mine. The structures are modest, but standing there made it easy to imagine the effort and optimism it took to try to pull a living from this landscape.
That afternoon, we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It’s more than a museum — think garden meets zoo, with a side of desert education. The birding was excellent, both inside the aviary and out on the grounds. Plus we had some bonus sightings like iguanas and squirrels along the paths. By the desert turtle exhibit, they did a short animal presentation and brought out tiny turtle babies, and it was cuteness overload. We saw the Mexican gray wolf — a species that dropped to as low as five in the wild. Conservation efforts have brought them back to around 250.
The cacti were especially plump and happy — a stark contrast to what we’ve seen in the wild. We caught more cacti blooms here than anywhere else so far. I was especially happy to see what an organ pipe cactus looked like, as a lot of folks along the way have said to check out Organ Pipe National Monument, but it's just too far from our path. Animatronic dinosaurs were spread throughout the desert gardens. Though when the dinosaurs actually roamed here, it was forests, rivers, and wetlands and not saguaros and sand.
We caught a live animal presentation featuring both rattlesnakes and a Gila monster. Gila monsters are venomous but shy and slow-moving. Watch your step in the desert, because a rattlesnake bite without insurance can cost up to a quarter of a million dollars to treat. You’ll probably survive without antivenom, but the risk of permanent nerve damage is high. Most bites happen in people's own yards where their guard is down, big sigh of relief from me!
If you’re in Tucson, don’t skip this place, it's top notch!
That afternoon, we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. It’s more than a museum — think garden meets zoo, with a side of desert education. The birding was excellent, both inside the aviary and out on the grounds. Plus we had some bonus sightings like iguanas and squirrels along the paths. By the desert turtle exhibit, they did a short animal presentation and brought out tiny turtle babies, and it was cuteness overload. We saw the Mexican gray wolf — a species that dropped to as low as five in the wild. Conservation efforts have brought them back to around 250.
The cacti were especially plump and happy — a stark contrast to what we’ve seen in the wild. We caught more cacti blooms here than anywhere else so far. I was especially happy to see what an organ pipe cactus looked like, as a lot of folks along the way have said to check out Organ Pipe National Monument, but it's just too far from our path. Animatronic dinosaurs were spread throughout the desert gardens. Though when the dinosaurs actually roamed here, it was forests, rivers, and wetlands and not saguaros and sand.
We caught a live animal presentation featuring both rattlesnakes and a Gila monster. Gila monsters are venomous but shy and slow-moving. Watch your step in the desert, because a rattlesnake bite without insurance can cost up to a quarter of a million dollars to treat. You’ll probably survive without antivenom, but the risk of permanent nerve damage is high. Most bites happen in people's own yards where their guard is down, big sigh of relief from me!
If you’re in Tucson, don’t skip this place, it's top notch!