I was out this weekend to photograph some saguaro blooms and get some nice images of a crested that I had seen from the road. To my surprise and luck I found another right off the road. This is on the Tonto national forest.
The second and larger crestie seen in the gallery was burned pretty extensively in the 2005 Cave Creek Complex Fire, Arizona’s 2nd largest fire where over 240,000 square acres (381 square miles) were burned. Despite the damage, this cactus and many of its brothers and sisters are still doing quite well as evidenced by their healthy blooms! Great to see the Tonto coming back to life!!
Read more about the Cave Creek Complex Fire:
Maricopa County
A small crested I found while out exploring along the Gila River. This is approximately 11 miles due south of Superior, AZ on an old mining road (called Battle Axe Road) of the AZ-177. There is only 1 way in and out (as far as I know) and the turn off to Battle Axe road can be found at
The saguaros are incredibly dense in this region, as are the cholla and ocotillo. There are grand towering cliffs all around and beautiful Gila River valley makes this a great place to explore. Be careful of old mine shafts out here – I found one that was a vertical drop of ~20 feet… Watch where you walk out there!
Pinal County
This is my first crested saguaro I found. I named it Prospector because it sits at the base of some hills that are honeycombed with old gold mines. Actually some are still active claims, and near this cactus we found a rock with “NO PROSPECTING” painted across its face. This is a fairly easy off-road drive, any 2WD truck can make the drive and you can drive right up to this cactus.
Yavapai County
