Catalina State Park
— saguaros in their thousands at the foot of the range.
Not only on a wall.
Catalina State Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Five thousand acres of saguaro forest folded into the western foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, ten miles north of Tucson. Trails climb out of the desert into oak and sycamore canyons, ending at the Romero Pools, where snowmelt collects in granite basins. After winter rain, the wash runs and Gambel's quail work the brush. Sutherland Wash on a clear winter morning is one of the quiet places in the state.
The place, in three passes.
Catalina State Park covers 5,500 acres in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, ten miles north of central Tucson along Oracle Road. The park sits between 2,650 and 3,000 feet at its lower trailheads and rises into Pusch Ridge Wilderness, a 56,933-acre block within Coronado National Forest. Arizona State Parks has managed it since 1983. The land holds one of the densest saguaro stands in southern Arizona, along with an archaeological site called Romero Ruin, the remains of a Hohokam village from around 1450.
Air in the lower park reads as classic upper Sonoran Desert — creosote, palo verde, mesquite, and saguaro on south-facing slopes. As trails climb through the canyon mouths, the vegetation cools and shifts: Arizona sycamore, velvet ash, and Mexican blue oak follow the watercourses. Romero Canyon climbs roughly 2,800 feet over six miles to the Romero Pools at the wilderness boundary. Desert bighorn sheep range the Pusch Ridge cliffs above. After summer monsoons, the washes run for days and the canyon air smells of wet stone.
The park entrance is on Oracle Road (Highway 77) at milepost 81, north of the Tangerine intersection. A day-use fee covers parking; an Arizona State Parks pass works too. Eight trails fan out from the main lot, ranging from the half-mile Birding Loop to the Romero Pools hike and the longer Sutherland Trail toward Mount Lemmon. The park offers ranger-led walks, equestrian access, and a campground with 120 sites. Best months run November through April; trails grow severe in summer afternoons.
