Sabino Canyon-Day 2

Our second day at Sabino Canyon took us on a hike along Falls Trail. We hiked a shorter hike in the morning and then had a picnic lunch in the Jeep and then started off on our afternoon hike. We rode the Shuttle Bus up the first two miles to save time and then started on the next part of the hike. The tram ran along two trails: the Sabino Canyon Trail and the Bear Canyon Trail. So we took the shuttle for the first two miles and then had about 3 miles (round trip we thought) to complete the hike. Then our plan was to catch the tram bus on the way back to save the last two miles. This is a favorite hike of the area and was written up as being 8-9 miles TOTAL we later realized. Mileage isn’t accurate on some of the apps we use and we learned this lesson today!!

The Seven Falls Trail is located in the Sabino Canyon area near Tucson, Arizona. It was definitely my favorite hike but we started too late in the day and were worried about darkness on the way back and in addition to that we were walking into a rainstorm (IN THE DESERT)!! The hike crossed Sabino Creek 7 times but the rocks at the time of the year that we went, were enough to walk on without getting our feet wet. In places the trail was soft and sandy and in other places there were lots of rocks and cacti everywhere. Hiking boots are a must for this trail!! (Although we saw people with flip-flops on!)

The Seven Falls Trail is rated as medium and it wasn’t all that difficult until the last mile when we were climbing up lots of rocks and switchbacks as we rose near the falls. The first part of the trail was definitely the easiest. The elevation gain up to Seven Falls was about 917 feet and we hiked a series of switchbacks as we climbed up the side of Bear Canyon. I’m not fond of heights but this part didn’t bother me this time! Along the hike we saw tons of saguaro, cholla and ocotillo so the walk out was a bit slow as I kept stopping to take pictures. We made it to the falls as it was starting to drizzle and we realized we didn’t have as much time as we thought to get back before dark (since I stopped so many times on the way out for photo opportunities) AND it was beginning to rain harder so our walk back was much faster than our initial walk in. We were trying to catch the tram for the last 1.5 miles back as well and we reach the shuttle area with ten minutes to spare!! Long hike, beautiful start of the day, blooming saguaros and a great hike for scenery down in the canyon. I would do it again starting earlier in the day!