Saguaro National Park
Episode Guest
Cam Juarez – Community Engagement & Outreach Coordinator /Public Information Officer
Park Stats
Location: Tuscon, AZ
National Park number – 52
Park designation date: October 14, 1994
President when the park was created: Bill Clinton
Park size: 96,000+ acres
Highest elevation – 8,666 feet – Micah Mountain
Lowest elevation – 2,180 feet – Sanders Road
Number of Visitors in 2023 – 1,010,906
Fun Facts:
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Located in the Sonoran Desert
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Home to over 2.1 million Saguaros
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25 different cacti species in the park
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165 miles of hiking trails
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Made up of 2 districts
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Oldest rocks are more than 1.7 billion years old
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Contains plants and animals from a variety of ecosystems from desert to tropical
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2nd darkest Dark Sky park in the nation
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Speed Round
What is your earliest park memory?
My first drive into the park, I entered through the west side. I had a meeting there, early in the morning. And it was early and it had snowed the night before and the saguaros were covered in snow. It was pretty phenomenal to drive about three miles from the entry point that I came in through to the visitor center where I had my meeting.
What made you love the parks?
I fell in love with the parks because of the one phrase “Wow, I’ve never been here before. This place is beautiful.” I love that about the parks. It’s not just here. I’ve been to about 16 national parks and a dozen national monuments and other types of national park sites. I have that same feeling every time I visit a new one. I say I’ve never been here before. And I love it. I fall in love with every National Park site I visit.
What is your favorite thing about Saguaro National Park?
My favorite thing about Saguaro, other than the iconic keystone species of Saguaro, is the history here. It doesn’t come off initially, but you really have to dig into it and talk to folks. But the cultural, resources are so rich, not just with the Tohono O’odham and the Hohokam.
They were here for a thousand, two thousand, three thousand years before us. The petroglyphs that are here, but also, the history of the Mexican people that were here that settled these areas. The CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps built most of the National Park picnic areas and trails.
When I dove into the history, a large portion of the people that were participating in the CCC were of Latino descent. I have a lot of friends whose grandfathers and fathers were on those CCCs. So that’s an untold story that I love talking about, and I hope to someday share with people.
This was the last visit that was scheduled for a man that was the first natural resources chief of that division. His name was John Melendez Wright. We know him as John Wright or the John Wright Society, but it was, his full name was John Melendez Wright. And the first natural resources chief of that division was Latino.
As a Latino, as a Mexican American, to know that someone of my heritage was here, he was on his way from Texas and was in a car accident that took his life. But it’s because of him that we protect wildlife in addition to natural landscapes.
What is your favorite thing to do at Saguaro National Park?
I love hiking in the park. I love taking people out on hikes. But honestly, I love, love, love, and this started during the pandemic. Once a week, my family and I will cook dinner, put it in some picnic gear, and we’ll go out and watch a sunset on the West District. We’re close to it, so we’ll park out there in a parking spot, and we’ll have dinner out there, and watch the sunset. In the springtime we listen to bats and all kinds of other pollinators, but it’s really cool to witness the dark skies out there.
What park have you yet to visit but is on your bucket list and why?
There are so many on my bucket list, but I would say the one that always comes to mind is Yellowstone. I’ve not been to Yellowstone yet.
What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
- Water.
- Definitely try to bring some tweezers here at Saguaro National Park. Because there’s jumping cholla. They don’t actually jump, but they’re very close to the trails. And they’re designed to break off from their plant to be able to propagate somewhere else. Bring tweezers or even some small pliers. to pull some of those thin out of your clothing.
- Salty snacks.
What is your favorite campfire activity?
S’mores
Tent, camper, or cabin?
Tent
Hiking with or without trekking poles?
Without trekking poles
And what is your favorite trail snack?
Trail mix. Or candy bars, but I wrap them with those frozen packs so that they don’t melt in my backpack.
What is the best animal sighting that you’ve had?
It has to be the, the cool mundi, which is kind of like somewhere between a monkey and a meerkat and a raccoon. Sighting them for the first time was really cool. Definitely love those, but gila monsters, it took three years before I finally saw my first gila monster on the trail. They’re fairly unique to the desert. And they’re the only venomous reptile in our continent. It’s really cool to see them.
What is your favorite sound in the parks?
You’re going to have to visit to experience this, but saguaros whistle in the wind. Especially if it’s nice and quiet and you’re away from the visitor center. If you stand quiet for about 10 to 15 minutes, you’ll experience this phenomenon and basically the wind as it’s going through the needles of the saguaros. They’re so concentrated that you hear a specific kind of whistle coming through there.
What is the greatest gift the parks give to us?
First experiences.