Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Overview
This is a fun loop for families, with several interpretive stations providing information
about the desert for adults, as well as kid-oriented questions or puzzles for the younger
members of your group. The stands of saguaros are especially thick and impressive in
this area. There are steps and sandy spots in a few places, so strollers aren't recom-
mended. Sure, you could lope around the trail in 20 minutes, but it's worth taking the
time and enjoying this introduction to the national park.
Route Details
The trail gets its name from Safford and Viola Freeman, who applied to homestead
640 acres in the area in 1929 and built a three-room adobe house here in 1930, with
outbuildings housing a separate kitchen and storage areas. They built an access road
that later became Old Spanish Trail, which you probably drove to reach Saguaro Na-
tional Park. The family lived on the property until 1934, the year after Saguaro Na-
tional Monument was established. After they left to return to Tucson, Safford Free-
man's father continued to homestead here. The family sold the house and land to the
federal government in 1951, and the acreage became part of the national monument.
Apart from remnants of some foundations, nothing is left of the Freeman family's
home except an open space in the desert vegetation.
If you can't find a spot in the six-car parking area at the trailhead, you can park at
the nearby Javelina Picnic Area and walk back along the road. From the trailhead, the
path goes southwest; formed of loose sand and small rocks, it descends imperceptibly
