Western Way RV Resort

Coast to Desert: Driving from San Diego to Tucson, Arizona in Spring

March 27, 2024 by Michael Huntley

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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Tucson Mountains, Arizona: Saguaro National Park West, the Desert Museum & Tucson Mountain Park

January 30, 2023 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: May 3, 2026

The Tucson Mountains are a small but exceptional desert range west of Tucson, Arizona — one of the four mountain ranges that surround the city, alongside the Catalinas to the north, the Rincons to the east, and the Santa Ritas to the south. Each range has its own character, but the Tucson Mountains have always been our favorite — for the sheer density of saguaro forest, the network of hiking trails through Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro National Park West, the wildlife, and above all the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which Michael has been visiting and photographing since the early 1980s and where he has been a member almost every year since. From Cave Creek it’s about a two-hour drive south to Tucson, and the moment you turn west off I-10 toward the Tucson Mountains the saguaros thicken, the road climbs, and the city falls away behind you.

Tucson Mountains Arizona showing the dense saguaro forest and rugged volcanic peaks west of Tucson photographed by Michael Huntley travel blogger and physician photographer

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Saguaro National Park, Tucson: Spring Bloom & Desert Wildlife in a Quiet May

May 24, 2020 by Michael Huntley

Last Updated: July 12, 2026

Tucson in late May 2020 was different. COVID-19 had shuttered the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, closed Western Way’s pool and clubhouse, and pushed most snowbirds north weeks earlier than usual. The campground was nearly empty. But the Sonoran Desert didn’t get the memo — it was putting on one of the most spectacular bloom seasons we’ve seen in years, and we had it almost entirely to ourselves.

The catch: it was running about 20 degrees hotter than normal. We’d timed the trip for the saguaro bloom, which typically peaks in late April to early May when highs hover in the low 80s. Instead, we got 100°F every afternoon. Early mornings cooled into the 60s, which made dawn walks and hikes genuinely pleasant — we just had to be done before 9 a.m.

Saguaro cactus silhouetted at sunset in Saguaro National Park's Tucson Mountain District, Arizona

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