In 2022, while brainstorming for our annual Turkey Day Vacay, I recalled a saguaro that I’d seen in Vidal Valley and wondered if it was still there. The problem was that I’d never been to Vidal Valley, so I couldn’t possibly have seen the cactus in question. Such is the evocative power of Desert Magazine…
Satisfied that I’d imagined it, I retraced my research for our 2013 Spring Fling, when I must’ve seen the saguaro in another context. I consulted the index and asked Guy for several issues before finding a photo of it, towering over a full-grown man, on page 16 of the November 1944 issue…
In the article, “We Found the Arch—but not the Nuggets” by Walter Ford, the saguaro is mapped as a landmark for a lost arch and a gem field. It was over 25 ft high 78 years ago, so if I find the arch, I'll find the cactus…if it still stands. A saguaro can live for over 200 years, and I needed an excuse…
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The desert has gone silent. Where once it was inhabited by homesteaders, miners, and even ranchers, now it's a checkerboard of wilderness areas delineated by long, lonely roads. Surely many interesting and historic sites remain, but how accessible are they now that most of the roads have been