Day 2 of 2025 Thanksgiving Trip to Tucson, Tanque Verde Ridge

by admin

The second day of my 2025 Thanksgiving Trip to Tucson. I drove from Willcox back to Tucson this day, took a tour of Kartchner Caverns in the morning before hiking Tanque Verde Ridge in the afternoon.

Sierrita Mountains behind God Rays

The drive from Willcox to Tucson was only expected to take 1.5 hours, leaving me with ample time for other activities throughout the day. So after checking out of the hotel in the morning, I took a small detour to a guided tour of Kartchner Caverns.

Tour of Kartchner Caverns

The story of Kartchner Caverns’ discovery is one that truly emphasizes preservation. The caves were discovered relatively recently, in 1974, and remained a guarded secret for another 14 years while their discoverers developed a comprehensive plan to properly conserve them before opening them to public tours. The tour I attended today placed heavy emphasis on conservation efforts—so much so that, as my guide explained, photography was prohibited (though I could hardly make sense of the logic).
Beyond conservation, another central theme of the tour focused on the bats that inhabit the cave, way more so than the wondrous rock formations for which such caverns were typically celebrated.

Since no photographs were permitted during the tour, I shall pass over those details here.

After the cave tour, I made my way to Tucson for lunch. Afterwards, my original plan had been to drive up to Mt. Lemmon. The route offered several interesting overlooks along the way, and the fire lookout station at its top would have made an excellent destination for a short hike. Unfortunately, a storm hit the area a few days before my trip, blanketing the summit with snow and ice. I wasn’t aware of these conditions until I checked web cams during my lunch, and since I hadn’t brought any snow gear for this trip, attempting the snowy trek to the fire lookout seemed imprudent. This prompted an impromptu search for alternative afternoon activities. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before my attention settled on Tanque Verde Ridge of Saguaro National Park.

Hike of Tanque Verde Ridge

Tanque Verde Ridge extended all the way east to Mica Mountain. For this afternoon, I decided to hike along it only to Tanque Verde Dome. On paper, this was an 8.9km out-and-back trail with 464m of elevation gain (5.5mi, 1520ft), a perfect choice since I had fewer than 3 hours of daylight left to explore it.
Here’s GPS tracking:

Since this was in Saguaro National Park, true to its name, the trail started out winding through fields of towering saguaros.

Saguaros
Field of Saguaros
Field of Saguaros
Trail
Field of Saguaros
Trail
Field of Saguaros
Trail
Saguaros along Trail

While vegetation remained sparse throughout the trail, offering uninterrupted views at nearly every turn, there was a spot roughly midway where the vistas opened up in a particularly unobstructed manner. I paused there for a moment to soak in the views: the sprawling Tucson metropolis below and, to the northeast, the cloud-draped Santa Catalina Mountains, which I would explore the next day.

Santa Cruz Basin
Santa Catalina Mountains
Santa Catalina Mountains
Santa Catalina Mountains
Distant Picacho Peak
Tucson Mountains to the West
Mountains to the West
Aircraft Graveyard visible in the foreground.

View of Santa Cruz Basin from Tanque Verde Ridge

After the halfway overlook, the trail narrowed noticeably, with occasional rocky sections made slippery by the recent rain. Saguaros also became noticeably sparser along the way. In my opinion, the views from Tanque Verde Dome (the end of my hike) weren’t dramatically better than those from the halfway overlook, and might not be worth the additional efforts.

Field of Saguaros
Saguaros along Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail

Final Steep Stretch to Tanque Verde Dome

The final stretch of path leading up to Tanque Verde Dome was on steep rock surfaces like these. Wet patches required additional caution during my visit, further strengthening my belief that terminating at the halfway overlook might not be a bad option.

Finally, the top of Tanque Verde Dome offered similarly sweeping views of Santa Cruz Basin and Santa Catalina Mountains from a more elevated perspective, along with glimpses of several additional mountain ranges stretching to the south.

Santa Cruz Basin
Tucson Mountains to the West
A few tall buildings in downtown Tucson visible.
Mountains to the West
Aircraft Graveyard visible in the foreground.
Distant San Luis Mountains
Mount Wrightson to the South
Whetstone Mountains
Rinco Peak
Javelina Rocks along Cactus Forest Dr

Fortunately, much like the previous day at Massai Point in Chiricahua National Monument, atop Tanque Verde Dome I was treated to a spectacular interplay between scattered clouds and the rays of sunlight pouring through them — an intense drama of light and shadow that called to mind the chiaroscuro subtitle of Expedition 33, the video game I had been playing recently.

Sierrita Mountains behind God Rays
Sierrita Mountains behind God Rays
Light Flowing through Clouds
Light Flowing through Clouds
Light Flowing through Clouds
A plane on final approach into Tucson Airport.

And here’s a video from Tanque Verde Dome:

16 seconds, 2160p60fps, H265 only, 20Mbps/41MB file size.

I spent 25 minutes on top of Tanque Verde Dome before starting my descent at 4:35pm. This meant I reached the halfway overlook right around sunset, where the same vistas from an hour and a half earlier had softened into a warm, approachable blush of pink.

Santa Cruz Basin
Tucson Mountains to the West
Mountains to the West at Dusk
Aircraft Graveyard visible in the foreground.
Santa Catalina Mountains
Setting Sun over Sierrita Mountain
Distant Picacho Peak at Dusk

And finally, a spectacular sunset against the silhouette of the mountain ranges to the west of Tucson.

Santa Cruz Basin against Setting Sun
Sunset
Sunset
Sunset
Santa Cruz Basin at Dusk
Santa Cruz Basin at Dusk

Not wanting to be caught in the dark before reaching the trailhead, I didn’t linger long at the halfway overlook before pressing on. Soft twilight hues continued to grace the landscape all the way down.