Program Descriptions

Programs meet at the Red Hills Visitor Center and last 30 to 45 minutes, unless noted otherwise.

* Wheelchair Accessible

*A Hohokam Woman’s Day: Take an easy 100 yard walk in our Cactus Garden Walk to discover how a Hohokam Woman may have used the plants for medicinal solutions and food for her family.

*Adaptation: Recipe for Survival: Take an easy 100 yard walk in our Cactus Garden Walk to discover some physical and behavioral adaptations of desert plants.

 *Ancient Graffiti – Learn about the different kinds of rock art from the past, who made them and how we determine their age.

*Birdless Bird Talk for Snow birds and others: Take a fun walk through the Cactus Garden on a birdless bird walk and discover what some of our local birds look like and sound like. Heard a bird call you don’t recognize? Have you seen a bird you have never seen before and wondered what it was?

Can’t See The Desert for the Cacti? Know what you’re looking at when you walk in the desert. Come on a short walk with a naturalist to learn about the sights, sounds, and smells of the Sonoran Desert and its plants and animals. 45 – 60 minutes.RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*The CCC and Saguaro National Park: Learn the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the Tucson Mountains, the projects they undertook and their lasting legacy in Saguaro National Park.

*Desert Sojourn: Find out why this human perceived “harsh” environment is “Heaven on earth” for animals and plants.

The Desert Talks: Can You Hear It? The desert has much to tell you if you know how to read it. Come walk with a naturalist on a 2 to 2 ½ hour hike and find out what you can learn from the sight, sounds, and smells of the Sonoran Desert and its amazing plants and animals. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*Geology of the Tucson Mountains: This program explores how the Tucson Mountains came to be where they are now, their composition and forces that built and continue to shape them.

*God’s Dog & Desert “Pigs”  An introduction to two of our most common desert mammals: the coyote and the javelina.

*Homesteading Adventures in the Desert: Join a park ranger as she presents the oral history surrounding Mexican American homesteaders’ adventures in and around our Saguaro National Park.

The “Human” Saguaro:   Learn about the Saguaro Cactus and how it holds human like characteristics.

*Life Cycle of the Saguaro: Seed to Giant: An easy 100 yard walk on some astonishing reasons why so few Saguaro seeds make it to fruition.

*Living Speed Bumps: A park naturalist gives a preliminary report of a recent park study and raises serious questions about the long-range ecological effects of road kill nationally as well as in Tucson. 

Moon Take Night Make Day:  This gentle, relatively flat 3 hour, 2 ½ mile hike up a desert wash is during the transition from day to night. Enjoy the sunset and stroll in the moonlit desert. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*Moonrise over the Mountain:  This campfire talk on the back patio of the visitor center allows a relaxing view of the full moon as it rises above the cactus forest. Bring a lawn chair and warm clothing (or blanket).

*Night Flyers:  Learn about the bats of Saguaro National Park, including why they are so important to our Sonoran Desert ecosystem. Did you know that one insectivorous bat can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour? How do saguaro cacti depend on Bats? Separate the facts from fiction about these fascinating creatures.

*The Ole’ Saguaro and Bits and Pieces: Join Park Naturalist Paul Powell on an accessible, ½ mile trail for “a little of this and a little of that” about the natural history of the park and the surrounding Sonoran Desert. MEET AT THE DESERT DISCOVERY TRAIL.

*Rattlers!: Explore the life and lore, myths and misunderstandings concerning one of the desert Southwest’s most intriguing icons.

Signs of Life in the Desert: Enjoy an easy ½ mile walk around the Red Hills Visitors’ Center to look for evidence of animal life.

Some Like it Hot – Who Calls the Sonoran Desert Home? Come hike with a Park Naturalist and find out why so many plants and animals call this seemingly hostile place “home sweet home.” A 1.8 mile hike, 2 hours. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

The Sonoran Desert: Hostile or Home? In just a short walk from the Visitor Center, you will be transported into the world of desert dwellers. 45 – 60 minutes. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*Snakes: Learn the fascinating communication skills, special adaptations and defense systems of these often misunderstood creatures. A little bit of folk lore is also shared.

Sunset Hike: This 3 ½ to 4 hour, 3 ½ mile round trip hike that climbs 700 feet to a ridgeline for the sunset and then returns under the moonlight. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*They’re MINING in our National Park??? No, but they did before it became a National Park. If you are interested in the mining in this region and other local history, join us for this program.

*Those Who Came Before: Learn about the Hohokam (those who are gone), who inhabited this area from A.D. 300 to A.D. 1450.

Twilight Glow to Moon Shadows: An easy 2½ mile, 3 to 3½ hour stroll that allows us to experience the desert in the twilight glow and then discover the mystic moon shadows which will accompany us to the end of the hike. RESERVATION REQUIRED call 520 733-5158

*Where’s the Water? Water is a valuable resource in the desert. Learn how Sonoran Desert plants utilize and conserve this precious substance. Take a short walk in the Cactus Garden to look at examples of plant adaptations that help them survive here.

*Wilderness and Wild Places; Why Save Them?  Wilderness has an almost mythical mystique in American history. What is “wilderness,” and how have we gone about protecting it? Come learn about the complex issues in the history of wilderness preservation in our country. 

*You Too Can Envy a Rat!  the Kangaroo rat has adaptations to the desert that will amaze you and make you envy its abilities in this land of little water. Take a short walk to observe Kangaroo Rat burrows and habitat.