For many years, the pattern has been the same: I collect tips on crested saguaros in the Tucson area, and when the number of tips reaches some critical mass, the road takes me to the "Old Pueblo" to document as many as I can. This was one such trip, both to document some new crested saguaros and to check on the progress of some old ones.
I arrived in the northern outskirts of the Tucson metro area in mid-afternoon, and decided to take a hike in one of the local preserves. After about a mile afoot, I easily located this short crested saguaro I'd gotten a tip on:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1362.php
Nearby, I checked out what had looked like a "clumpy" saguaro in the satellite photo turned out to be a twin (shared root) saguaro:
As I continued hiking cross-country, I startled a couple of javelina, who really took off running. One of them even bounded over the vegetation in great leaps the first time I'd seen that behavior! They were gone so fast this is the only photo I could get:
I was trying to find two arm crests I'd had a tip on, but with only a general idea of their locations, I couldn't find them before the lowering sun called me back to the trailhead. Even without finding those crests, I'd had a nice walk in perfect weather in the pristine desert; that was more than enough. On the hike out, I found a scattering of cow bones, including this jawbone:
I passed a saguaro with the beginnings of a Y-arm:
After returning to my vehicle, I drove to a nearby spot in the desert where I'd camped several times before. As I cooked my dinner, the moon rose behind the nearby power lines:
There is nourishment in the desert for myth, but myth must somewhere have its roots in reality. And there are true secrets in the desert.
John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America
The next morning, I hit the road early with the goal of following up on as many tips as I could. First was this tall top-crest behind some houses; magnificent but with a worrying lean:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1363.php
Driving away, I spotted this multiple-Y next to a driveway. A saguaro with this many splits but no seam is hard to classify some would call it "crested"!
Only about a hundred feet away, a single-split saguaro:
My next tip took me a short distance up a trail into a canyon. I quickly located the arm crest, and noted that it had some troubling rotted patches:
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2019 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1364.php
My next few stops were right along city streets easy pickings! When I first photographed this saguaro six year ago, it was just starting to crest out look at it now!
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2019 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima900/crest976.php
Same with this one that CSS member Pat Hammes gave me the original tip on, back in 2019:
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2019 photos:
www.crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima900/crest975.php
This one is right next to a house's back wall, so stealth was called for:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1365.php
This beauty is next to the driveway into a property:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1366.php
This arm crest was right in front of a fence, behind which was a large growling and barking dog, so I quickly took my photos and skedaddled:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1367.php
This top crest wasn't close to any houses, so I could photograph it undisturbed:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1368.php
Only a few feet away was this saguaro that looks like it may also eventually crest out:
My drive took me right past this big top-crest, so I pulled over for an updated photo:
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2018 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima900/crest941.php
CSS member Mick Wedley had recently submitted a photo of this crested cereus in a back alley, so I stopped to check it out:
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Mick's photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/mutant/cereus/crest23.php
The cereus was also in bloom! The homeowner noticed me taking photos, so we chatted for a bit.
Mick had also taken updated photos of this nearby mutant/crested saguaro (Bob and Pat's C133), and I also re-photographed it since it had been 14 years for me. The house looked unoccupied, so I stepped into the yard to photograph the far side of the saguaro:
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Photos dating back to 2005:
www.crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima/crest88.php
Bob and Pat first documented this saguaro (C127) in the landscaping at a major intersection back in 2005, when it was just starting to crest. Look at it now!
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Photos dating back to 2005:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima300/crest391.php
CSS member Norma Inkster sent me a photo of this yard crest earlier this year, so I visited it to get my own photos:
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Norma's photo:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1361.php
It had been 16 years since I'd photographed this roadside dinosaur, so I snapped a pic while waiting at the light:
This backstreet saguaro has crested out nicely in the 5 1/2 years since I first found it:
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2020 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1000/crest1002.php
I've been watching this yard saguaro crest out since I first got a tip on it in 2016:
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Photos dating back to 2016:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima800/crest840.php
I parked and took a short hike into a preserve to document this uniquely-crested saguaro:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1369.php
CSS members Ted Codding, Harry Ford and I could see this one (which I'd found in 2011) in the distance while we were hiking last year; on this day I got updated close-up pictures of it:
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My 2011 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima200/crest227.php
Another crest at a major intersection; I took this updated photo from the street:
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2020 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1000/crest1037.php
Late in the afternoon, I hiked in on another preserve trail to photograph a small top-crest I'd had a tip on, but I found it down and decaying.
From there, I could see this Y-arm saguaro:
... and a skittish deer:
On the hike out, my shadow reminded me that the hour was getting late:
The view from the appropriately-named Santa Catalina Vista:
Just before sunset, I drove into Tucson:
Night found me on the streets of downtown:
... where I attended a concert by one of my favorite singers:
Very late that night, I fled from the city to open desert, and parked at a remote boondock site.
In cities, the muffled under-sound of motors is so constant that we consider it silence. When it is removed the effect is startling, almost shocking.
John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America
The next morning, I followed the highway to a neighboring town where I'd previously found a crested saguaro using Google Maps street view. It turned out to be a rare ring crest:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1370.php
In another neighborhood nearby, I photographed another yard crest that Harry Ford had forwarded a tip on:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1371.php
Along the highway back into the Tucson area, I stopped to take updated photos of this saguaro that was just starting to crest out when I spotted it 7 years earlier:
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My 2018 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima900/crest919.php
In a nearby saguaro was this Crested Caracara nest; I guess they were gone for the season:
Back in Tucson, I hiked another preserve trail to this small top-crest I'd had a tip on:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1372.php
From there, my binoculars could pick out another crested saguaro in the distance that I'd visited 5 years earlier. It was at the limit of my telephoto lens:
My 2020 close-up photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1000/crest1040.php
Another trail to another tip, this one a nice arm crest:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1373.php
I scrambled up to a nearby ridge and admired the view up into the hills:
Just the tip of this saguaro had a small patch of golden color:
A baby saguaro was sheltered among the rocks:
... and its juvenile cousins framed the view across north Tucson to the distant Pusch Ridge:
Some thoughtful soul had carried a metal bench up to this ridge; my weary bones were grateful for the chance to rest:
The view past the University of Arizona to the distant Rincon Mountains:
Along the trail back to my vehicle, a saguaro with a prickly pear cactus growing from it:
After recent rains, the ocotillos were aglow with greenery:
Next, I did a short hike in Saguaro National Park to check up on this saguaro that was just starting to crest when I found it 5 1/2 years ago:
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My 2020 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1000/crest1013.php
Intriguing repeating patterns in a saguaro skeleton related to the "Spiral" or "Barber Pole" pattern that some living saguaros have?
I've been watching the cresting-out of this roadside saguaro for 7 years:
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Photos dating back to 2018:
https://crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima900/crest945.php
A stone's throw away, I had a tip on this golden saguaro I'd never noticed before:
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/other/othersaguaro/golden/golden42.php
In another neighborhood, I followed up on a tip on a crested barrel cactus, but found it down and very decayed:
Only a few hundred feet away, another yard crest I'd had a tip on. I couldn't photograph this big beauty close-up because my presence set off multiple barking dogs!
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crpima1300/crest1374.php
Time for one last tip before heading for my campsite one of the biggest crested barrels I've ever seen!
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crestedsaguarosociety.org/mutant/barrel/crest149.php
From my campsite, again I photographed the rising moon no power poles in the way this time!
The next morning, other obligations pulled me homeward. There were still more Tucson tips on my list, and more known crests to check up on, but those would have to wait. In the days to follow, I would relive this trip over and over in my mind, and look forward to someday returning.
Who has not known a journey to be over and done before the traveler returns? The reverse is also true: many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased.
John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America
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