Traveling Huntleys

Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.

Michael Huntley

Spring Cactus Bloom in Tucson, Arizona: Hedgehog, Claret Cup, Pincushion & Barrel Cactus in March

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Last Updated: May 3, 2026

One of the great pleasures of a spring stay in Tucson, Arizona is the cactus bloom — and the species don’t all flower at once. The bloom moves through the Sonoran Desert in a predictable cascade from March through June: hedgehog cactus first in March, pincushion cactus next as March turns into April, then barrel cactus, prickly pear, and cholla through April, and finally the iconic saguaro reaching peak bloom in May. We left Tucson at the very beginning of April this year, which meant we caught the hedgehogs at their absolute peak, the claret cups in red flame, and the larger barrel and saguaro cacti just beginning to bud — the season was about to truly explode behind us as we drove west. As a longtime photographer of the Sonoran Desert, Michael structures spring stays specifically around this bloom calendar.

Claret cup cactus in brilliant red orange spring bloom Tucson Arizona one of the most photogenic Sonoran Desert spring wildflowers photographed by Michael Huntley travel blogger and photographer
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Mount Lemmon, Tucson, Arizona: Driving the Catalina Highway from Desert to Alpine Snow

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Last Updated: May 4, 2026

The Catalina Highway — officially the General Hitchcock Highway — climbs 27 miles from the Sonoran Desert north of Tucson, Arizona to the summit of Mount Lemmon at 9,159 feet, and it’s one of the most remarkable short drives in the American Southwest. In those 27 miles you pass through five distinct ecological life zones — from saguaro desert at the base through chaparral, oak woodland, pine-oak forest, and finally ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir near the top — with the temperature dropping roughly 20 to 30 degrees from the desert floor. The mountain was named for Sara Plummer Lemmon (1836–1923), a botanist who made the ascent in 1881 with her husband John Gill Lemmon while collecting plant specimens — reportedly the first woman to reach the summit. We drove up on a clear March morning, rising out of the desert bloom into cool, forested air, with snow still on the ground near the top. From 75°F in Tucson to a couple inches of fresh snow above Summerhaven in about an hour.

Sandy Huntley on Mount Lemmon Tucson Arizona at the summit area of the Catalina Highway sky island drive that rises from Sonoran Desert to alpine forest in 27 miles
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Coast to Desert: Driving from San Diego to Tucson, Arizona in Spring

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Last Updated: May 4, 2026

Every spring the pull of the Sonoran Desert draws us east out of San Diego — past the coast, across the desert flats, and into the country of saguaro cactus and Sonoran Desert light that has become the heart of our Arizona winters. The drive from the Southern California coast to Tucson is a little under 500 miles, taking you from sea-level salt air to high desert at 2,400 feet and from cool coastal fog to the dry, warm clarity that makes Tucson one of the better places in the country to be in spring. We’ve made this drive many times over the years, and it still feels like arrival every time we turn east on I-8 and leave the Pacific behind.

Saguaro National Park West Tucson Arizona showing the dense saguaro forest that draws Michael Huntley travel blogger and photographer back to the Sonoran Desert each spring
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Beginnings, Start of a New Era

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Beginnings can be bittersweet. They are often brought on by change, and in our situation, it was the passing of our beloved dog Jake, our ever present companion. Michael’s father passed away almost two years ago, before that it was his mother. Not long ago, Sandy’s aunt De passed, before that her father and other relatives. We are at the age in life when our friends and family are older and end of life is ever present.

Jake Huntley, Beginnings
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From Yellowstone to Arizona: A Winter Family Road Trip Through Wyoming, Colorado & Texas

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Last Updated: May 4, 2026

We don’t always take the direct route home from Yellowstone, and this trip was proof of it. After one of our latest-season stays in Gardiner — businesses closing, temperatures dropping well below freezing each night, and several surprise snowfalls reminding us that late autumn in Montana is not the time to linger — we mapped a route south through Wyoming and into Colorado to visit as much of Michael’s family as we could reach. Jake was a good sport through the cold weather and ready to move again. From Colorado we continued east across the plains to Amarillo before cutting west through Albuquerque, stopping in the Arizona high country, and finishing the winter migration at Yuma for the drive home to San Diego.

Bighorn sheep grazing near the road at Yellowstone, Montana in late autumn — late-season wildlife viewing with few other visitors around
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