Part 7 - Sabino Canyon.

Part 7 - Sabino Canyon. 

We had heard great things about this place, and even watched a few Youtube videos about different hikes here. So, while still staying on the West side of town, we took the 50 minute drive to the Sabino Canyon recreation area. 

Our first hike was on the Nature Trail Loop near the Visitors Center. The trail was basically a loop through the flat desert lowlands with beautiful views of the Catalina Mountains. Markers along the trail acted as name tags for the different flora of the Sonoran Desert. 

The most rare of Saguaro Cacti can be seen here, it is a Crested Saguaro, and only 25 exist within the boundaries of the Saguaro National Park. 

Here is our picture of the Crested Saguaro at Sabino Canyon.

One of the most unique features about this area are the Trams that operate in both Sabino Canyon and neighboring Bear Canyon.  The Sabino Canyon Tram is a 3.8 mile narrated tour which allows visitors to get off the tram at any of the 9 drop off points and re-board for a ride back to the Visitors Center. The Bear Canyon Tram is a 2 mile ride that provides access to the trail head for Seven Falls.

Below is a picture from an overlook on the Sabino Canyon Trail. The road for the tram can be seen near the center of the picture and the small trail on the top left is the Phoneline trail.

The Bear Canyon tram is a great way to shave a couple of miles off of the hike back to Seven Falls. It is always a good thing to see water in the desert, and this trail follows a fairly active creek that leads you back to its source at the falls.

There are several creek crossings on the Bear Canyon Trail, and fording the creek and moving upstream takes you further into the canyons steep walled depths.

The trail keeps climbing, and eventually rises far above the creek, not descending until you reach the first of the 7 falls. If you look closely at this picture you can see people standing around the several pools formed by the falls.

We were surprised to find these lovebirds when we got to the largest pool at Seven Falls.

If you are in the Tucson area to do some hiking, you will regret not taking some time to explore the trails in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area.

If you want to read more about our adventures in Tucson, you can catch up on the previous entry here:

Part 6 - West Side

Here is the link to our next article.

Part 8 - Cactus Country RV Park Review.

Part 6 - West Side.

Part 6 - West Side

Not trying to start a gang war here, but the West Side is the Best Side. To be fair, it's all we knew of Tucson so far, so we didn't have much of a comparison. 

From our home base on the West side of town we had direct access to Tucson Mountain Park, but a short drive North on Kinney Road would take us to Saguaro National Park West. Our RV park turned out to be a great location to explore the Tucson Mountains.

One thing we recommend doing, if you are going to spend time hiking in Tucson, is to purchase the Interagency Annual Pass from the Red Hills Visitor Center for $80. This can be used at Mt Lemmon, Saguaro National Park, and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. So our first drive into the park was to get this pass and check out a couple of the shorter trails.

Our first stop was the Desert Discovery Nature Trail just past the Visitor Center on Kinney Rd. It is a handicap accessible, loop style trail, that is a great introduction into the Sonoran Desert flora.

Here is a great pic of a Saguaro Skeleton. The vertical wooden support system for the Saguaro are called "ribs", and during rainy periods, they allow the cacti to expand to store water for dry seasons.

Continuing our journey, we made our way to Signal Hill to take the short hike up to see the ancient petroglyphs etched into the rock. Warning: Signal Hill is accessed by a dirt road on the Bajada Loop.  It is very rutted,prone to erosion, and best traveled by vehicles with a high clearance.

Here are some of the petroglyphs we found on Signal Hill:

The highest peak in the Tucson Mountains is Wasson Peak, and it is accessible by a few different trails.  For our first long hike into the Tucson Mountians, we chose to try the Hugh Norris Trail. Access to this trail is down another rough dirt road on the Bajada Loop.

The Hugh Norris Trail has a very steep ascent.

 Not too long into the hike, you are immediately rewarded with breathtaking views of the desert below you.

We only made it as far as the saddle where Hugh Norris Trail Crosses the Sendero Esperanza Trail. Unless we wanted to hike down in the dark, we had to turn around now. So, we came back another day, and conquered the peak from the King Canyon Trail Head.

Here are a few pics from that route:

Ever wonder what an Arizona Canyon Trail looks like, here ya go:

This is a beautiful Purple Fish Hook Barrel Cactus that we saw on our way up.

What looks like a dirt road in the background is actually the trail we took to the top:

Wasson Peak at 4,687 feet.

We loved hiking to Wasson Peak so much that we took a 3rd trail, the Sendero Esperanza, to the saddle where it meets with the Hugh Norris Trail. This allowed us to pick up where we left off on the Hugh Norris Trail and finish out our failed peak attempt from our first hike.

Here are a few shots from the Ez-Kim-In-Zin picnic area at the bottom of the Sendero Esperanza Trail. This was one of our favorite places to spend time relaxing on days in between hikes. Dogs aren't allowed on the trail, but we loved this picnic area so much, we took them just to make sure they didn't miss out on the amazing mountain views.

A view out the window of one of the shelters at the picnic area:

The distant dome at the top of this picture is Wasson Peak, and you can see the trail winding around the right side to get to the top.

Here is a view from further up the trail to Wasson Peak. The white dots you can see on the left are part of the city of Tucson in the distance.

So many things to love about Arizona, but hiking had become our new favorite. We had never experienced a feeling of victory quite as satisfying as getting out in the wilderness and conquering a mountain peak. We knew we were hooked, and that this was only the beginning.

Stay tuned for more of our adventures in the Tucson area.

Until then, here is a link to our last blog article:

Part 5 - Mt Lemmon

Here is the link for our next article:

Part 7 - Sabino Canyon