CACTUS COOLER SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK HOLDS ITS OWN AGAINST THE PRESS OF TUCSON.

Byline: Story and photos by Eric Noland Travel Editor

TUCSON, Ariz. - The viewpoint takes in some dramatic sights: the Silverbell Mountains, the broad expanse of the Avra Valley and such peaks as Kitt, Picacho, Baboquivari. In the foreground, backlit by the setting sun, are saguaro cactus growing thickly, raising their distinctive limbs toward the sky, as if beseeching it to send down a little more rain.

But what's this? Unnatural lumps here and there, off in the distance. Of course: the roofs of houses, the cabs of parked pickup trucks, the glint of sun off a trailer awning.

They pepper the landscape (some might say litter) and have crept this way until being stopped abruptly at an unseen line that appears to have been drawn with a straight edge on the desert floor. That's the boundary of Saguaro National Park.

Give thanks that it is there. Population growth around the Arizona cities of Tucson and Phoenix has been exponential in recent years, and suburban housing has oozed into outlying areas as the need for homes has mandated.

Blocking its path on both the west and east sides of Tucson, however, is this relatively young national park (granted that status in 1994). At times it has the feel of a desert wilderness under siege.

It is a unique national park, broken into two considerable segments, with a major city in between. It is also a natural treasure for those visiting or residing in Tucson. Drive just a few miles to either the west or the east of the city, and you instantly swap an area of fast-food joints, car washes and gleaming new condos for a landscape so rugged and untouched that much of it can be navigated only on foot or horseback.

To the west is the Tucson Mountain District, 24,000 acres that are so primitive, most of the roads are dirt washboards - and the park service still can't bring itself to charge a fee for admission. This is a low-desert environment, and the saguaros grow particularly thick here.

On the east side of Tucson, about 30 miles away, is the Rincon Mountain District. It sprawls over 67,000 acres, and a paved driving loop nicks only the extreme western edge of it (a fee of $6 per vehicle is charged for entry to it). Here is high desert, bordered by mountain ridges that climb to 7,000 and 8,600 feet, crested with conifers.

Head out into either expanse and you're likely to delight in a world that is both fascinating and forbidding. This is one of the better times to visit - when daytime temperatures are cooler, dry breezes rake the arroyos, and the desert flora begins to burst forth with brilliant but short-lived blossoms.

Intriguing at all times of year is the park's namesake. The saguaro cactus (pronounced ``saw-WAR-oh''), a prickly, ribbed candelabrum that can tower as tall as 50 feet, has become the defining symbol of the Southwest - incorporated into the logo of every company that wants to identify with desert ruggedness.

And since settlers first began venturing into this area in the 19th century, people have noticed peculiarly human characteristics in these slow- growing giants. As you drive or walk through this park, especially as the heat or dryness begins to get hold of you, the upturned limbs begin to look like arms, the discarded burrow of a flicker or cactus wren resembles a mouth (crying, ``Oh!''), blossoms become hair, small nodules become pug noses.

In fact, if you have little ones along who are getting weary of riding in the car, play a game of trying to identify the various postures of these creatures. There's one shrugging. That one's showing off its biceps. There are two playing patty-cake. That guy's putting up his dukes to fight.

Whatever your inclination or energy level, Saguaro National Park - or at least a representative sample of it - is readily explored. At both the west and east ends of the park are short discovery loops that are flat, paved and wheelchair-accessible. Each segment has a driving loop - nine miles in the western part of the park (six of which are dirt), eight miles in the eastern part.

Short hiking trails also branch off these routes, ideal for those who wish to stretch their legs and wander a short distance through the harsh environment. Park rangers also lead guided walks; information can be obtained at the visitor center at either location.

When out on a trail, you'll quickly get a sense of the diversity of the environment and the hardiness of its dwellers. Keep the park service brochure handy and you'll be able to identify the saguaro's neighbors in this world - cactuses such as prickly pear, hedgehog, fish hook barrel; scrubby plants such as creosote bush, mesquite, ocotillo; and more varieties of cholla cactus than you could have imagined exist: chainfruit, teddy bear, pencil, buckhorn.

There are also remnants of ancient history to examine - without undertaking a withering overland trek. In the Tucson Mountain District, to the west of the city, a short spur off the loop drive leads to the Signal Hill picnic area. A trail leads one-third of a mile to a hilltop adorned with petroglyphs, believed inscribed there by the Hohokam people over an extended period - from A.D. 500 to just before Columbus landed in the Americas.

Go ahead and try to make some sense out of the many stick figures, whorls and heavenly bodies - anthropologists admit they're stumped. These could be solstice markers, clan symbols or simply ancient graffiti. (If the latter, it's the 21st-century visitor's gain that no tribal Clean Up Our Rocks campaign was undertaken in the 1400s).

With so few paved roads in the park, if you want to explore it at greater length you must strike out on foot. There is an extensive networks of trails, particularly in the eastern segment of the park. Before setting out, however, you might want to consider donning long sleeves and long pants, if the temperature is cool enough to make that bearable. In any event, exercise some care when you walk. One day I was vaccinated on the forearm by a cholla and the next day on the calf by a prickly pear.

The Douglas Spring Trail seemed particularly inviting early one morning, perhaps because its trailhead, in the extreme northern reaches of the Rincon Mountain District, is far from the popular tourist loop drives.

The walk to Bridal Wreath Falls is a little over 5 1/2 miles round trip. The name is a bit of a stretch, because even in the dead of winter the spill of water over the rocks was no more than what you'd get from a garden hose turned on low.

There were many other rewards, though. A roadrunner scooted across the path not 10 feet in front of me. A bird of another sort made high-pitched squeaking noises, as if from a child's bathtub squeeze toy. (I later asked a ranger if he could identify it, but he couldn't help.) Succulent yellow fruit was emerging atop barrel cactuses - surrounded, of course, by wickedly protective quills. Winds rustled the parched grasses of the desert floor. And the sky was a brilliant blue rarely seen in Southern California.

Curiously, a lot of the other people I encountered on the trail seemed oblivious to these subtle sights and sounds. One guy ran past at an aerobic-workout pace, the desert sonata shut out by headphones. Two others seemed to be holding a trail-bound business meeting, conversing loudly as they hurried along, eyes riveted on the ground in front of them.

It was yet another reminder of this national park's close proximity to a metropolis. To many of these trekkers, it seemed, the Douglas Spring Trail was simply an outdoor treadmill.

An incident later in the day restored hope that the desert would prevail against the urban incursion, though.

At the southern end of the Rincon driving loop was a sign indicating a short walk to a historic sight. A fellow named Safford Freeman had gotten a homestead grant here in the 1920s, constructed an adobe hut for his family and surrounded it with ocotillo fence. The dwelling was later abandoned, and the park service decided to consign it to nature's devices.

I was shocked upon reaching the site to find only scant evidence of the living that Freeman and his family eked out. It was wiped nearly clean. All that remained were a couple of sandy lumps, with a floor tile or a corner of the foundation protruding here and there. The relentless forces of wind, rain, blistering heat and flash flood had accomplished a near-total work of desert reclamation here.

And somehow, there was something vaguely comforting in that.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: To reach Saguaro National Park's Tucson Mountain District, head west out of Tucson on Speedway Boulevard and Gates Pass Road, then turn right on Kinney Road. To get to the Rincon Mountain District to the east, head out Broadway Boulevard to Old Spanish Trail and turn right to the park entrance. Each segment of the park has its own visitor center.

COSTS: There is no fee to enter the Tucson Mountain District. To drive onto the loop road of the Rincon Mountain District, a fee of $6 per vehicle is assessed.

INFORMATION: Tucson Mountain District: [phone]. Rincon Mountain District: [phone]. Web: www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box, map

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) Saguaro cactuses create a quintessential Southwest landscape in the western portion of Saguaro National Park, above. At a site nearby are Hohokam petroglyphs, right, which predate Columbus' landing in the New World. The desert park can produce bright splashes of color, including the pulpy yellow fruit of the fish hook barrel cactus, top right.

(4) Hikers head up Douglas Spring Trail one morning in Saguaro National Park's Rincon Mountain District. Most of the park is only accessible on foot or horseback.

Eric Noland/Travel Editor

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IF YOU GO (see text)

Map:

Saguaro National Park