Old Tucson & Saguaro National Park

If you love Western movies, you will want to visit  Old Tucson, a world famous film location for westerns. The location has been used for more than 300 old west movies since 1939.The set for the movie "Arizona" was built by Columbia Studios and has been used for the filming of several movies and TV westerns since then.  A fire in 1995 destroyed 40% of the sets but several of the original buildings, many which are adobe, from the 1939 set are still standing.

In 40 days, without the convenience of running water, tribal members known as Papagos, used traditional methods to help construction crews hand make more than 350,000 desert earth bricks used to build over 50 structures to recreate the City of Tucson circa 1860s.

 

We took a guided walking tour to explore the streets where many television and movie stars have worked over the last 75 years.  We took a train ride around the movie sets, walked through the set of High Chaparral, watched a botched bank robbery where outlaw greed brought down the criminals, and saw costumes from Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza along with a few others.



Some of the movies made in Old Tucson include "3:10 Train to Yuma", "Joe Kidd", "Tombstone", "The Three Amigos", "Gunfight at the OK Coral", "Rio Bravo", "The Quick and the Dead" and TV shows "Gunsmoke and "Bonanza."



I love old westerns and seeing where some were filmed was a thrill for me.  Old Tucson is where the spirit of the Old West comes alive.



One of the rebuilt sets

 

Since 1933 the giant saguaro cactus has been protected within the Saguaro National Park. This area of Arizona hosts the largest growth of saguaro cactus in the world. Here, it's not unusual for months to pass without a drop of rain.  Less than 12 inches of rain falls in a typical year.  Few seedlings grow to adulthood.  Seedlings growing under palo verde and mesquite plants are shaded from the intense sunlight, blanketed from winter cold and hidden from rodents birds, and other animals.

Almost all of the saguaros have holes in them as birds excavate new holes each spring to raise a family. These holes do not harm the saguaro and when the original occupant leaves, the cactus gets a hard scar and other birds and critters take over the nest.

While one saguaro may produces tens of thousands of seeds in a year, odds are against survival. They grow best on sloping plains at the foot of desert mountains. After 75 years it may sprout its first branches, or arms. By 100 years, the saguaro may reach 25 feet. Saguaros die of old age, but they also die of animals eating the seeds and seedlings, and lightning and winds kill large saguaros.  Droughts weaken and kill all ages.   

There is no way to accurately tell the age of a saguaro without knowing when it started growing.  Growth rates vary depending on rainfall, temperature and soil conditions.



Saguaro Cactus (see saguaro skeleton on its left)