A family reunion at Saguaro National Park

Me and my saguaro brother at Saguaro National Park near Tucson. Photo by David Lansing.

Driving west out of Tucson, I stopped at a vista overlook at the top of Gates Pass. From a shady ramada I stared out at a panoramic view that included Kitt Peak some 36 miles southwest and the Santa Rosa Mountains another 20 miles due north. In between were endless miles of the surprisingly lush and diverse Sonoran Desert with over 2,700 known plant species from deep green paloverde trees to bitter buffalo gourds. But the most dominant figure is the magnificent saguaro, looking solemn and serene. Like cacti buddhas.

There is something about the saguaro that has always fascinated me. Perhaps it is their too-human shape, their arms upraised as in perpetual if prickly welcome while others bend and twist, giving each cactus a distinct personality.

Slowly driving through the mostly dirt road of Saguaro National Park, I couldn’t help but stop—over and over—to get out and admire these most regal of desert plants and, using a self-timer, have my picture taken standing beside them. As if I were at a family reunion and these were my kin; my prickly, ancient relatives.