Go Wild in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert’s unique beauty stuns everyone who visits and who is unprepared for everything this incredible landscape has to offer.Spanning 100,000 square miles, the Sonoran Desert stretches through parts of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico and is the wettest, hottest, and most biodiverse desert in North America.
Its biodiversity includes 100 species of reptiles, 20 amphibians, over 350 types of birds, and 60 mammals, including coyotes and bobcats and roughly 2,000 species of plants. The most famous of those plants is the Saguaro Cactus.
What is it about Saguaro Cacti?
The Sonoran desert is the only natural habitat for this majestic plant. This giant cactus can grow up to 70 feet and live to be 150 years old. They bloom in the moonlight, when the gorgeous white flowers—the State flower of Arizona—are pollinated by bats. After blooming, their fruit develops, ripens, and falls to the ground to provide food for desert tortoise and other wildlife, which in turn help spread their seed.Get to Know the Sonoran Desert on a Salt River Rafting Trip
Begin your Salt River and Sonoran Desert adventure March 1st through May in the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and explore the vast number of side canyons and follow creeks to their hidden pools through the Upper Canyon, Middle Canyon and Lower Canyon of the Sonoran Desert.Embrace the transformation into “river time”, a state of mind only achieved on the river, allowing yourself to contemplate the diverse layers of rock or count the arms of a giant saguaro cactus. Spend evenings with family or friends playing games on secluded sandy beaches. In the morning enjoy the warmth of a hot cup of coffee as you watch the sunrise.
