Saguaro Hunting

WHO CAN FIND THE TALLEST SAGUARO?

Tall... taller... tallest. Who can find the biggest of the giant saguaros? Somewhere out there on Arizona's stately landscape, we believe, rules the loftiest saguaro of all, one yet unmeasured. Maybe you've seen it. Maybe you were wondering just how tall it is. Well, if it's about the height of a six-story building, it may be just the one we're looking for. Let us know where it is. We'll send our best saguaro measurer to check it out. Who knows? You may have found the world's tallest saguaro. Meantime, until the ultimate specimen turns up, claims continue for the grandest saguaro of all. For sheer mass, Saguaro National Monument East contains a whopper known as "Granddaddy." It has 50 arms but is only 40 feet tall. It's certainly not the Manute Bol of cacti. In the mid-1970s, the highest saguaro - based on scientific measurement - was just short of 53 feet. That giant lorded over a south-facing slope in the Tucson Mountains. Two months after Paul Fugate photographed it in June, 1975, a storm severed the plant near its base, and the three-armed patriarch was dead. Years later Nature took its toll on yet another giant. A saguaro near Cave Creek, north of Phoenix, was said to stand 78 feet tall. The Guinness Book of World Records proclaimed it the tallest. But after a 1986 windstorm toppled it, a neighbor reported he had measured the saguaro's height posthumously and it was only 58 feet. Still, it was probably a record for its time. The 1989 Guinness book calls a 57-foot11-inch saguaro east of Gila Bend the tallest. Recent measurements show it has grown to nearly 59 feet. But we suspect there are even taller specimens out there, just waiting to be discovered. And if it's saguaros you want, Arizona is about the only place to find them this side of the Mexican border. And that's why Arizona Highways newest book, All About Saguaros by Carle Hodge is the ultimate choice for photos and facts about these great symbols of the Southwest lowlands.Did you know, for example, that saguaros have a very difficult early life? That even under the best of conditions a 10-year-old saguaro gets no bigger than three inches and most often makes it only to 1 or 1 1/2 inches tall? Did you know that the most prodigious digger of holes in the saguaro is the Gila woodpecker? And that saguaros have unique ways of defending themselves against this indiscriminate drilling? Did you know that saguaros have a particular religious significance in certain Indian cultures? That you can make wine from saguaro fruit? Or that there is a con-troversy among scientists about whether the saguaro is facing extinction? We'll wager you didn't know this: you can't tell the age of a saguaro just by its size. Some 100-year-old saguaros may be 30 feet tall. Others may only be half that height. It depends on the growing conditions in which the individual saguaro finds itself. Not all saguaros get vitamin-enriched bread, after all. But once they reach maturity, these great giants of the Sonoran Desert are tough and hardy. They live for 150 years and longer, sometimes much longer. Yet they also are gentle, gentle enough to cradle cactus wrens in their arms, and to provide shelter for countless birds, bats, bugs, and an occasional snake. Saguaros come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they look regal. Sometimes they look massive and strong. Sometimes they look downright silly, like they forgot what they were doing and began growing arms willy-nilly. Saguaro watching is a growing pastime in Arizona. And All About Saguaros can be the saguaro buff's best friend. This 64-page softcover book has a great portfolio of full-color pictures. And the text is so interesting, it'll make you an instant saguaro enthusiast. So grab your book and let's head for the desert on our quest for the tallest saguaro. If you think you've found it, take a photo with someone standing next to it to put its height in perspective. Then send the picture and precise directions on how to locate the saguaro to the editor at Arizona Highways, 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85009, and we'll measure it scientifically. Who knows? You may go down in history as a big-saguaro finder. You could be famous. Good hunting.

To Order: All About Saguaros will be available after September 23, 1991, for $8.50 plus shipping and handling. Orders may be placed by calling Arizona Highways toll-free 1 (800) 543-5432. In the Phoenix area, call 2581000. Or stop by the Arizona Highways gift shop at 2039 W. Lewis Ave., Phoenix, AZ. The gift shop is open weekdays from 8:00 Α.Μ. to 5:00 P.M.