Sabino Canyon Hiking Trails
Sabino Creek starts as springs high up in the mountains, gathering snowmelt and runoff as it descends into the foothills. There it rushes through Sabino Canyon with sometimes deadly vigor, creating a riparian oasis of cottonwoods, willow, walnut, sycamore, and ash; saguaro, barrel cactus, prickly pear, and cholla dominate the rocky canyon slopes away from the creek’s influence. It is a truly spectacular place that should not be missed.
Sabino Canyon Recreation Area (8:30am-4:30pm daily, $5 per car), about 13 miles northeast of downtown Tucson, is easily accessible, user-friendly in the extreme, and much used—best estimates say 1.25 million people visit every year. Many locals use the canyon’s trail system for daily exercise, and hikers, picnickers, and sightseers usually pack the canyon on any given day in any given season.
Sabino Canyon Trails
A paved road rises nearly four miles up into the canyon, crossing the nearly always running creek in several places. During Southern Arizona’s summer and winter rainy seasons, it is nearly impossible to cross the small bridges without getting your feet wet. The Forest Service closed the road to cars in 1978. It’s a relatively easy walk along the road to the top of the canyon, which offers access to trails that go far into the Santa Catalinas. If you don’t feel like walking, the Sabino Canyon Shuttle (520/749-2861, $10 adults, $5 children 3-12, children under 2 free) runs 45-minute, narrated trips into the canyon all day, pausing at nine stops along the way to take on or let off hikers at various trailheads. From July through mid-December the shuttle runs 9am-4pm weekdays and 9am-4:30pm on weekends and holidays. From mid-December to June it runs 9am-4:30pm daily.
From the last tram stop 3.8 miles up in the canyon, hikers can get off and take an easy stroll down the road, crossing the creek at nearly every turn, or try the Phoneline Trail winding along the canyon slopes and overlooking the riparian beauty below. Perhaps the most popular trail in the entire Tucson Valley is the hike through nearby Bear Canyon to Seven Falls, a wonderful series of waterfalls and collecting pools. You can access the Bear Canyon Trail from just outside the visitors center, or take the shuttle to a trailhead 1.5 miles on. To the falls it’s a total of 3.8 miles one-way and worth every step. The Bear Canyon shuttle leaves the visitors center every hour on the hour, 9am-4pm daily ($4 for adults, $2 children 3-12).
The Sabino Canyon Visitors Center and Bookstore (520/749-8700, 8am-4:30pm daily) has trail guides and sells gifts and books. There are bathrooms, drinking fountains, and dozens of tucked-away picnic areas throughout the canyon, and many of the trails link up with one another, so it is easy to cobble together a loop hike that will take you through all of the various life zones. The canyon is open from sunup to sundown every day, and bikes are allowed in the canyon only before 9am and after 5pm, never on Wednesday or Saturday, and never on trails that lead into the Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area.
To get to the canyon from midtown, take Speedway Boulevard east until it turns into Tanque Verde Road and then turn north on Sabino Canyon Road to the recreation area, just north of Sunrise Road. There’s $5-per-car fee for one day, or $10 for a week. An annual pass can be had for $20.
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