Description:​

Saguaro National Park is divided into two districts divided by a cross-Tucson drive of ~30 miles. The Mica View-Cactus Forest Loop Trail is located in Saguaro East, sometimes referred to as the Rincon Mountain District (RMD). Saguaro East has a paved eight-mile one-way driving loop that not only leads to the Mica View trailhead but also provides panoramic views and interpretive information as you drive to and from the hike.

Enter the park at the Saguaro East Park Entrance and stop at the Visitor Center to get oriented. In the Visitor Center, there are exhibits, a gift shop, and a 10-minute movie describing the desert ecosystem and the history of the park. Drive through the park kiosk to pay the entry fee and then follow the road signs to the Park Loop Road. Drive two miles along the scenic paved park road until you see the sign indicating the 0.5-mile dirt road that leads to the Mica View trailhead. At the trailhead, you will find good parking, an accessible gender-neutral restroom, picnic tables, and a shady ramada.

The Mica loop trail is a combination of two trails that combine for a two-mile loop hike. The first 0.8 miles is along the Mica View Trail which has been hard-surfaced to make it suitable for people using wheelchairs. This intersects the Cactus Forest Trail which is a natural surface with narrow stretches and some rock stairs that are obstacles to wheelchairs. The hike finishes by looping across the sandy Javalina Wash back to the picnic area. This route offers opportunities to double back on the easy, accessible Mica View Trail if confronted with an insurmountable obstacle, or to continue hiking to complete the two-mile loop.

No matter what your route, you will experience everything the park has to offer – grand mountain vistas, a landscape of cacti, shrubs and trees, and wildlife including lizards, quail, birds and occasionally bobcats.

The Mica View Trail is dotted with benches and shade trees, in contrast to the Cactus Forest Trail which has no such amenities. Dogs are allowed on the hard-packed Mica View Trail but not on the natural surfaces of the Cactus Forest Trail. And horses are allowed on natural surfaces but not on the packed trail.

After the hike, continue driving six miles on the park’s scenic road, stopping at pullouts to read more interpretive signs and view mountains in every direction surrounding the park. You might consider stopping further down the road to stroll the short 0.3-mile Desert Ecology Trail to learn more about the desert with a series of signs along that paved trail. The park scenic road will guide you along a pleasant drive, eventually arriving back to the Visitor Center where you began your adventure.