January 8, 2019

By Tim Briese

6.3 miles, 900’ elevation gain, 6:10 total time

After visiting some friends in Tucson for a couple of days Teresa and I decided to check out the popular Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in the Santa Catalina foothills northeast of the city. The government shutdown in effect severely curtailed services but at least the trails were still open. We looked at a map at the trailhead and asked a nearby hiker about recommended trails, and then took off, in the company of numerous other folks. The most interesting options were to hike up Bear Canyon a few miles to see some scenic waterfalls or to hike up Sabino Canyon. We were told that recent heavy rains had created runoff that made the first choice difficult so we chose the latter. We hiked a flat trail across the desert and turned left and ascended the Phoneline Trail into Sabino Canyon, several hundred feet above Sabino Creek. It was fun to explore a new place.

looking back down the trail, tucson is in the distance

there are lots of saguaros in this area!

sabino canyon

After a couple of miles we turned back and took another trail to descend into the canyon and followed Sabino Creek downstream through a relatively lush area with trees to Sycamore Reservoir.

a forest of saguaros

on the trail near sabino creek

sabino creek

Water from all the runoff poured vigorously over the dam at the lower end of the reservoir and we sat there and enjoyed the beautiful setting for a while.

water flowing over the dam

Then as the sun sank low in the west we hiked a short trail up onto the hill to the west to get some late day desert photos.

sabino canyon, and the waterfall, at the lower right

classic sonoran desert flora

We returned to our car at dusk and headed back up to our house in Surprise.