American south west

[Patrick]

It is too early to say that I am planning a trip but I am definitely thinking about one. I am looking for advice on the best place to go.
I would go with my girlfriend who loves walking, cycling, nature, canoe trips etc and even enjoys Cacti - for a short time. I am looking to go someplace where we can do lots of walks on which we find lots of cacti! The obvious choices would seem to be Arizona, New Mexico or Big Bend Texas. All of which would have some of my favourite plants. I'm inclined towards the latter but she's a not so keen on it's red neck reputation. We would want to have just one or two bases and explore from there and not be traveling all the time. Any suggestions as to what and where might work best?

[IanW]

I enjoyed Arizona, if you used Tucson, Sedona, the Grand Canyon as bases you'd have some really nice walks- saguaro national park, organ pipe national park, the grand canyon national park are all fantastic places.

I never made it down to Tucson and wasn't interested in cacti when I went- it was before I really discovered them, but it's hands down my favourite holiday I've ever had. I did go to some other places such as Page and Monument Valley in North Arizona/South Utah. My pics are available here:

http://www.xest-net.org/misc/arizona/

The grand canyon starts on page 7, the first two pics on that page are just random canyons around the grand canyon area not the grand canyon itself. Prior to that are some Sedona pics. The earlier Saguaro pics from page 1 on were just plants I encountered whilst travelling south to the Biodome from Phoenix before later that day travelling up to Sedona.

I only went for 10 days, there's far more I could've done had I more time from tucson and saguaro/organ pipe national parks through to the observatory stuff in flagstaff. We did do more travelling than you're perhaps willing to but if you cut out places like Page, which was okay but nothing amazing you'd cut the amount of travelling if you then just stayed longer at the other places.

I can't compare to the other places as I've never been to them but what I do know is Arizona is a holiday I will never ever forget and that's before I even had a real love and appreciation for the flora there despite being amazed by the likes of the Saguaro.

[Patrick]

Thanks Ian great pics, that certainly looks like a good possibility aswell!
What time of year were you there?

[Chris43]

For me the best place is the Big Bend - not just because of the cacti, but because it combines so much in a small (!) area. The hikes are spectacular, and it doesn't have the redneck reputation of some other parts of Texas. In fact its quite alternative, with a number of people who have opted out of the ratrace.

You can bathe in hot springs beside the Rio Grande, rent canoes or go on organised rafting trips, see spectacular canyons (St Elena, Boquillas), drive some really crude roads (Old Ore Trail, River Road) or just chill out in some interesting bars and restaurants(La Kiva, Starlight).

Oh yes, there are cacti there as well, which vary depending where you are, from Ariocarpus fissuratus, to big clumps of Echinocereus stramineus, the biggest Hamatocactus hamatacanthus plants you might ever see, to tiny Escobaria minima and Echinocereus davisii.

I have been to the Grand Canyon, and done the Bryce Canyon etc., bit, and they are truly spectacular. The cacti are great as well though when I went there it was a family holiday so not really time for hunting. I only spent 1 day in Phoenix, dove out east along the Apache Trail, up to Glove, and round to Tucson and back. I will definitely go back there some time as there is so much more to see, Organ Pipe NP etc.

I was in New Mexico for 10 days last year, and had some great hikes in the Organ Mountain, and around Carlsbad (the caverns are great), and also up in the north. Some great cacti there as well.

I have no doubt that wherever you go you will have a great time. The Big Bend was my first experience of solo cactus hunting apart from a day traveling through the Anzo-Borrega desert in southern California. So it probably has left a mark, but when you've hiked from the Basin up to the South Rim and look down across smaller mountains, the ribbon of the Rio Grande glinting in the sunshine, and tens of miles more of spectacular land spreading out in front of you, well, the 3000ft during the 7 miles up there is so well worthwhile.

[CoronaCactus]

All the places mentioned are great and probably will get you the most bang for your buck for different species. My wife and i did a 5 day trek from here in California > Phoenix (Apache Trail/Mesa/Superior) > Tucson (Saguaro Park, Boyce-Thompson Arboretum). There was certainly no shortage of cacti to look at!

But just to add another few possibilities...

California has some very nice habitat plants to see too Not to be left out would be Nevada. But i don't think the variety of species could be easily seen in a short trip...there'd be more travel time than you really want.

Anzaborrego in San Diego
Joshua Tree National Park in Palm Desert/29 Palms

I'll be going to the Laughlin, Nevada area next month. Almost accross the street is Bullhead City, Arizona. Aprox 50miles northwest is Searchlight, Nevada...which pops up alot on the Mesa Garden seed list. and then about 75miles west, is the Mojave National Preserve in California. Not sure if we'll have time to properly travel through the preserve though. I'll be taking plenty of pics, so you'll be able to see what it's like out there.

Also, the big CSSA convention is in Tuscon during April.

[Thord]

Hi Patrick!Made a trip from Colorado via Utah,Arizona, New Mexico and back to Colorado a couple of years ago. It was the first half of may and the Saguaros were in full bloom,so were chollas, Ferocacti,Echinomastus and lots of others.Absolutely marvellous!I even got my wife to understand why i find cacti so interesting.She thinks i´m nuts,but after seeing cacti in the wild she is more forgiving. I think Tuscon would be a great base. Unfortunately i haven´t been to Big Bend,but i believe it would be as great a base as Tuscon.Whatever,you can hardly not enjoy the landscape,the people and the plants!!!

[IanW]

Patrick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks Ian great pics, that certainly looks like a
> good possibility aswell!
> What time of year were you there?

I went fairly early in the year because it was cheap- around February, so missed cacti flowering, but as I say I hadn't an interest in cacti then so didn't plan for that!

What struck me about the place that time of year is within a day of travelling- from the Biosphere in the south up to Sedona we'd gone from semi-desert, to full desert, to alpine style snow topped hills through wet marshy areas, to very rocky areas. I remember one of the tour guides at the Biosphere saying that was one of the unique things about Arizona, that it had more different climates in it's state than any other state or something along those lines and I think that's why it stood out for me. It was particularly prominent in the grand canyon where we started with crampons on our boots trekking through the ice and snow at the top but where I changed down to shorts and t-shirt when we got to plateau point. Whilst many people see the grand canyon as the highlight of Arizona I felt it was only one of many, Sedona was one of the most beautiful places I've been.

The other thing that struck me whilst journeying to Sedona was the scale of everything and whilst I feel I've got a decent appreciation of the scale of the world compared to us, nothing compared to how it hit me when I realised at one point we were driving up what at first appeared to be a hill, but then became apparent what it actually was- part of the earth's crust lifted up and wedged over the piece beneath it such that where the crust had snapped off and wedged over the piece underneath there was a sloping cliff that was 1000s of feet high, imagine taking two bricks, putting one on top the other then sliding the top one back so that one end is on the floor and the other is resting on the other brick and that's effectively what we we're driving up, except on a wordly scale. Experiencing first hand the sheer scale of the world, and trying to comprehend the power of the forces that must form it was really quite mindblowing.

I doubt Arizona is unique in this kind of geological marvel, but it's the only place I've personally been so far that has given me a real appreciation of the planet- certainly nowhere in Europe has done that on the same scale, although arctic Norway was impressive with the Fjords, Lake Tahoe in California was stunning and many parts of Canada were also gorgeous, although Niagara falls was pretty dire. I'm not a spiritual person in the slightest, but coming back from there gave me a whole different perspective of the world! I'll hopefully get chance to go to Big Bend myself one day as it does sound impressive!

[Vic]

I'd recommend Big Bend for your type of trip Patrick, yoy could have base camp somewhere like Study Butte, then it's a short drive into the National Park. Lots to explore, loads of great plants, wildlife etc.. There are many trails which you could hike and explore. I only spent 3 days there and hardly covered anything. We hired a self catering cabin (see pic), everything you'd want plus a short distance to the store/gas station.

See here http://www.cmcm.cc/big_bend_lodging_001.htm

They have just rooms also if you don't want a cabin. Our cabin was the pink one in the pic with the car, first evening just before dusk I had a short stroll up the hills behind the cabin, I thought I might find a few Opuntias but actually came across the first Ariocarpus fissuratus I'd seen in habitat, there were quite a few plus Ferocactus hamatacanthus, Echinocereus, Echinomastus etc......

Really nice sitting out a night watching the sunset etc..

If you decide Big Bend is for you, get in touch and I can tell you some good spots for plants, although you'll be spoilt for choice!!

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[Patrick]

Thanks to you all, great ideas.