A Visit to Sabino Canyon With Friends

Nestled in the foothills of Arizona's southern Catalina Mountains 12 miles from downtown Tucson, the oasis of Catalina Canyon is one of the most scenic spectacles in Arizona. A paved road runs 3.8 miles into the canyon, crossing 9 stone bridges over Sabino Creek. It begins at an altitude of 2,800 feet and rises to 3,300 feet at its end, a popular drop-off in summer because of the swimming holes at Hutch's Pool and The Crack.  Winding through the canyon, visitors who follow the road have views of the creek, the riparian vegetation, magnificent Saguaros on the canyon walls, and towering rock formations.  The only motorized vehicles allowed on the 3.8-mile paved road that leads through the canyon are the Sabino Canyon/Bear Canyon shuttles and Park Service vehicles.

Archaic nomads used the Sabino Canyon area for thousands of years who hunted small game in the canyon. The earliest visitors were probably of the Clovis culture 12,500 years ago, and later, as the climate changed, the Cochise culture became dominant about 8,000 years ago. About 1500 ago, farmers of the of the Hohokam culture occupied the canyon and archeological excavations of their culture continues in the canyon to this day. They disappeared about 1500 and were replaced by the Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians, who still inhabit the Tucson area today.  Spanish explorers traversed the area from the 16th to the 18th century, and Father Eusebio Francisco Kino named the village of San Cosme de Tucson and the Santa Catalina Mountains when he visited the area at the end of the 17th century.
It was hot and, also, Spring Break for schools and colleges.  Oh, boy!  What a zoo!!  The place was packed and we must have driven around the parking lot 4 times before we found a parking spot.  Then our friends, Steve and Kitty (from our RV park), and Doug and I bought our tickets to ride the shuttle up through the canyon.  $8.00 a person!  We have been to the canyon before and I sure don’t remember it being that expensive.

U.S. Congress established the Catalina Forest Reserve in 1902, which included Sabino Canyon, and in 1908, it came under the control of the newly created Coronado National Forest. Various attempts to dam the canyon failed until the 1930s, when improvements like bridges, roads, picnic tables, and toilets were made by the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corp.  Sabino Canyon continued to grow in popularity over the next decades as Tucson's population grew. The Forest Service constructed the road into Lower Bear Canyon in 1960, and a Visitor's Center in 1963.  A shuttlebus service began in 1978 to replace private cars. Today, Sabino Canyon has over 1 million visitors every year.

it is a pleasant and pretty ride up through the canyon walls that are lined with Saguaro cacti everywhere.  We took the shuttle all the way to the end of the canyon and got off to hike just a small part of the canyon. 

The desert poppies and other flowers where blooming so it was really colorful.  Kitty couldn’t help but sit among the flowers.  We only hiked a short distance because of the heat then waited for the shuttle to pick us up for the ride back out.  There were people and kids all along the road hiking between the different shuttle stops up and down the canyon.  Too hot for me!  I’ll take the shade of the shuttle bus! 

Once back at the bottom, we found a picnic table to have a late lunch.  Somebody else was hungry, too!!  I just couldn’t resist feeding them.  I probably shouldn’t have given it to him, but one little guy really seemed to enjoy his M&M!  So cute.
It was fun visiting the canyon with our friends.  They both lived in Tucson many years ago and wanted to see how much the canyon had changed.  They couldn’t get over the changes.  One thing Kitty remembered was a Geleto Ice Cream shop , so that was where we headed for our dessert.  Any day is a good day for ice cream!  A nice ending to our day.