Saguaro country, and a hill covered in petroglyphs
Tucson, Arizona · 3 nights · November–March · up to 6
Tucson is a desert city with a mountain range on either side and a national park split into two halves around it. Mt. Lemmon is the strange one: an hour of driving that climbs from saguaro to ponderosa pine and ends at a ski area, which is not what Arizona is supposed to have. Sabino Canyon runs a tram up a canyon most cities would have filled with houses. Winter is the season — the balloons fly then and the walking is possible.
The ending
A low hill in the western half of the park, up a short scramble, with hundreds of petroglyphs pecked into the boulders on top and saguaro forest running out to the ranges on every side.
That is Signal Hill, Saguaro National Park (West). See how private it is and when it’s open.
Do
- Sabino Canyon tram
- Mt. Lemmon scenic drive
- Hot-air balloon at sunrise
- Tanque Verde Ranch desert horseback ride
Eat
- El Charro Café
- Cup Café
Stay
- Hotel McCoy
- Catalina-foothills 5BR
East or west Saguaro?
West, for this. It is the denser, older cactus forest, and Signal Hill is a short walk up from a picnic area rather than a hike.
How rough is the road in?
The loop out to Signal Hill is graded dirt — fine in a normal car and slow. The park does not publish a closing time for it, so call the park rather than plan an evening around it.
The planner doesn’t build Tucson, Arizona yet — we can name the places here but not yet enough of them around it to fill 3 nights without repeating. Read this one, then build your own somewhere we can.