Sabino Canyon Recreation Area - Coronado National Forest

On Saturday, January 26, we decided to explore Sabino Canyon, a popular hiking destination in the Tucson area.  According to the park brochures, 12,000 years ago, Columbian mammoths roamed here.  About 1200 AD, irrigation dams were placed in Sabino Creek by Hohokam Indians.  In the 1870's, pony soldiers from nearby Fort Lowell took horseback excursions to a swimming hole that is still used today.  In the 1930's, CCC workers build bridges, 3.8 miles of road (presently used by the tram) and several trails in the canyon.  The area is alive with a wide variety of plants and animals.

We came prepared for some short hikes, but, as it turned out, there were some longer trails.  A narrated tram ride was available up the canyon, so we rode the tram to the top with the aim of hiking down.

Here's a photo of the last tram stop.  We climbed from that halfway up to the ridge to hike the Phoneline Trail - named, presumably, for a telephone line that must have run up and down the canyon.  By now, the phone line has been removed and we only saw slight remnants in the occasional spike embedded in a stone, probably to hold guy wires for a telephone pole.

We hiked a trail along one side of the canyon, several hundred feet above the road, which gave us excellent views down the canyon:

Saguaro cactus are ubiquitous in the canyon, but there are also a variety of other desert plants, including prickly pear, which David is inspecting here:

Kathy won the prize for discovering the largest, most perfect Saguaro along the trail:

We were lucky enough to pass an Ocotillo leafing out, with the brightest, emerald green leaves we've ever seen:

And we were even lucky enough to see several Barrel Cactus in flower:

The rock formations are dramatic and tell the geologic story of the canyon.  There is a large layer of striated gneiss, some of which has broken off in huge blocks and fallen part way down the canyon:

 Occasionally, we spotted the macabre skeleton of a dead Saguaro:

Every turn along the trail brought a new visual surprise:

Some of the tumbled-down boulders made dramatic views, especially as the shadows lengthened later in the afternoon:

As we moved further down canyon, the valley opened out before us.  We could see the tramcar road below and to the right.  Our trail laid out ahead of us to the left of the road.  Suburban Tucson was in the distance:

The late afternoon sun and the blue, blue sky brought out rich colors in the desert.  This photo still doesn't do justice to the greens, blues, oranges, yellows, reds and browns we enjoyed:

As we got to the bottom of the canyon, the trail moved down along Sabino Creek.  We reached Sabino Dam and could catch an view of the creek as it wound through the desert:

Walking back the last stretch of trail to the visitor center and parking lot, we caught the shadows and colors of near-sunset as they played on the hills around the canyon:

The hike was longer than we expected - almost 6 miles.  We had planned on two shorter hikes of about 2 miles each, so our water was stretched to the limit and we wore day hikers rather than our more rugged hiking boots.  So we were happy when the hike ended.  But the trek was very satisfying.  We reach the RV as dark descended, fell exhausted into our chairs, caught up with some e-mails and other items, and fell happily into bed, eager for a Skype chat with Weina, Matt and little William early this morning.