Sabino Canyon, Tucson Arizona, November 15, 2024

I had the privilege of returning to Sabino Canyon a year to the day after may first visit to this amazing place. Sabino Canyon is on the north edge of the Tucson urban area at the base of Mount Lemmon. It is the most popular hiking spot in the area.

Sabino Canyon is supported by a elaborate visitor center with parking lots, restrooms, concessionaires, and a shuttle service. A paved road that is shared by hikers and the shuttle trams leads from the visitor center in to the canyon. The shuttle could be nice for families with small kids to explore the canyon but it is spendy.

The first half mile of this hike passes through a flat desert with giant saguaros and all the other species of plants found in this habitat.

It seems counter intuitive to speak so highly of a hike that starts as a paved road but it is a wonderful start to this adventure. You will be passed by an electric tram about once an hour. The steady easy grade walking up in to the canyon allows one to really enjoy the scenery and to “warm up” for the more challenging parts that follow.

Soon enough you leave the flats and are in the canyon. The road follows a substantial wash “dry creek bed” and the seasonally wetter environment supports some actual trees. In places you can leave the road and follow the wash up the canyon.

Saguaro cacti line the trails through out the natural area. Saguaros are the largest cactus found in the United Sates and can grow to over forty feet in height and live for over two hundred years.

The roadway crossed the wash numerous times. These narrow concrete bridges were built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936, the same year my mother was born.

As you walk up the canyon the rock walls tower above you. The narrow strip of trees along the wash provide some fleeting shade. The bare slopes above have none.

At a little over four miles in the paved road comes to an end. There is one last tram stop that some hikers use as the starting point for their hikes in to the wilderness. A series of switchbacks on a single track trail get you high above the canyon floor and here the real adventure starts.

As you get away from the roadway and above the bottom of the canyon you can clearly see the curvy path of the wash highlighted by the trees along its course with the foliage turning yellow in the late Arizona fall.

At the top of the switchbacks you can continue up Sabino Canyon or take the Phoneline Trail high above the valley back towards the visitor center. I opted to continue deeper in to the canyon at least for a mile or so. Soon I came to this bare rock with a commanding view back down the canyon.

Beyond the end of the pavement, the canyon seems much wilder. There is a new view around every bend.

Higher up the canyon I ran in to some real trees in shadier sections. These were nice places to rest and drink some water. They encourage hikers to make sure they bring a lot of water. I did and still finished all of it before the day was done.

I pushed up over a small saddle as the trail was high above the canyon floor. I couldn’t tell if the rock formations ahead had caves in them or if I was just seeing the effects of the shadows on the rocks.

Beyond the saddle I found myself above a large open basin overlooking the wash. Then I heard the sounds of running water and could just see it below. I guess this far up the stream was still running. I enjoyed the view and called it good. I was in about six miles at this point and had almost that far to go to get back.

I retraced my path back to the top of the switchbacks and then continued on the Phone Line Trail above the canyon. Thimble Mountain overlooks the canyon and is a very distinctive feature as seen from above on the General Hitchcock Highway up Lemmon Peak.

This trail is mostly flat and as I walked down the canyon the canyon drops further and further below me. I took a little time to admire the desert vegetation.

Pretty much everything here has thorns. Do not touch is the watch word in the desert.

Looking back to where I came from I could clearly see the switchbacks that brought my up here.

Looking down the canyon I could see part of Tucson in the distance. The Phoneline Trail is about half way between the bottom and the rim of the canyon.

You might be high above the wash but it’s still a long way to the top and the vegetation does not lend it self to bushwhacking.

In fact it seems almost like the Forest Service installs these devices to keep folks on the trail. That is a lot of prickly pears.

In places the vegetation along the trail looks like it belongs in a botonical garden.

Here is the view looking back up the canyon from the Phoneline Trail towards the end of the road and the switchbacks.

And here is the view looking down towards the mouth of the canyon as I was nearing the end of my hike on the Phoneline Trail. A connector trail brings you back to the tram road again on a series of switchbacks.

As I descended back in to the canyon, I enjoyed the views each unique and beautiful.

One last look from up high revealed this striking cloud formation behind one of the rocky pinnacles.

All too soon I was almost back down to the wash and the tram road.

A walked the last mile or so back to the visitor center on the pavement. It is an easy walk and easy on the knees as well. I was out of water anyway.

Sabino Canyon is definitely the prettiest desert hike I’ve been on. There are lots of big views along the trails.

And small views like this bud on a saguaro that may some day grow in to one of those impressive arms.

I ended up hiking between ten and twelve miles over a seven and a half hour period. The elevation gain over all is pretty moderate for a hike of this length.

I plan on exploring the area more during my stay in the area. There is a second canyon, Bear Canyon right next door in the same natural area that doesn’t have a paved road half way up it. Sounds like a cool place to check out.