Saguaro National Park - Rincon Mountain District - Rincon Mountains Overlook

Saguaro National Park is an American national park in Pima County, southeastern Arizona. The 92,000-acre (37,000 ha) park consists of two separate areas—the Tucson Mountain District (TMD) about 10 miles (16 km) west of the city of Tucson and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) about 10 miles (16 km) east of the city—that preserve Sonoran Desert landscapes, fauna, and flora, including the giant saguaro cactus.

The volcanic rocks on the surface of the Tucson Mountain District differ greatly from the surface rocks of the Rincon Mountain District; over the past 30 million years, crustal stretching displaced rocks from beneath the Tucson Mountains of the Tucson Mountain District to form the Rincon Mountains of the Rincon Mountain District. Uplifted, domed, and eroded, the Rincon Mountains are significantly higher and wetter than the Tucson Mountains. The Rincons, as one of the Madrean Sky Islands between the southern Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico, support high biodiversity and are home to many plants and animals that do not live in the Tucson Mountain District.

Earlier residents of and visitors to the lands in and around the park before its creation included the Hohokam, Sobaipuri, Tohono O'odham, Apaches, Spanish explorers, missionaries, miners, homesteaders, and ranchers. In 1933, President Herbert Hoover used the power of the Antiquities Act to establish the original park, Saguaro National Monument, in the Rincon Mountains. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy added the Tucson Mountain District to the monument and renamed the original tract the Rincon Mountain District. Congress combined the Tucson Mountain District and the Rincon Mountain District to form the national park in 1994.

Popular activities in the park include hiking on its 165 miles (266 km) of trails and sightseeing along paved roads near its two visitor centers. Both districts allow bicycling and horseback riding on selected roads and trails. The Rincon Mountain District offers limited wilderness camping, but there is no overnight camping in the Tucson Mountain District.

The Rincon Mountain District features the 8.3-mile (13.4 km) Cactus Forest Loop Drive, which provides access to some of the trails. Angling across the Rincon Mountain District from southwest to northeast is a segment of the Arizona Trail. The 800-mile (1,300 km) trail crosses Arizona from its border with Mexico on the south to its border with Utah on the north. In 2009, Congress named it a National Scenic Trail.

Horseback riding is allowed on some of the trails. Livestock—defined by the NPS as horses, mules, or burros—must carry their own food and are not allowed to graze in the park. Bicycling is allowed on the Cactus Forest Loop Drive and two park trails.

Manning Camp Campground is the main staging area for firefighters, trail-maintenance crews, and scientists working in the Rincon Mountain District. Their supplies are brought in by pack mules that are kept in corrals at the site. Runoff from a nearby spring, the largest in Rincons, provides water for the livestock.

On a 40-acre (16 ha) plot adjacent to the Rincon Mountain District along Broadway, the Desert Research Learning Center (DRLC) supports scientific and educational projects related to a network of Sonoran Desert parks, including Saguaro National Park. The DRLC grounds, which include desert plants, an artificial tinaja, and a rainwater collection system, are open to the public. The Sonoran Desert Inventory and Monitoring Network of which the DRLC is part, covers 10 national monuments or parks in Arizona and 1 in New Mexico.