Sabino Canyon: Seven Falls Trail

We celebrated our wedding anniversary Saturday with a hike on the Seven Falls Trail in Bear Canyon, an offshoot of Sabino Canyon in Tucson.  It's the best hike we've been on in a long time.  Lots of saguaro and other cactus, lots of water, and -- since we started mid morning -- plenty of shade.

A tram took us two miles up the canyon to the trail head. I'd read different on-line estimates on the actual trail milage, but per my iPhone Walkmeter app, from the trailhead to the pool of water and falls you reach at the end, it was 2.8 miles ones way. 

The hike is rocky in places but overall it's pretty easy. We crossed the stream that carved out the canyon seven times by stepping from rock to rock and barely got our feet wet. After doing the trail, we decided to walk down the road instead of taking the tram, then took a "short cut" trail that again crossed a stream. Jim hopped from stone to stone and got "kind of" wet feet. I finally found a place that looked calm and sloshed across in knee deep water. After the hike we ignored our wet feet and went out to lunch.

If we could recommend just one Tucson area hike, this would be it. Get there early to miss the crowds and to take the first tram up the canyon, which leaves at 9 a.m. Or you can walk the two miles to the trail head.

Beautiful saguaros are everywhere in Sabino and Bear Canyon..  They grow as high as 70 feet, can lives for  200 years, and the armless ones are called "spears."  Saguaros grow naturally only in the Sonoran desert.

Bev and a few of her cacti friends.

Hikers ahead of us cross the stream that meanders across the trail.  The water is dark because the surrounding trees and other flora leech into the water. 

At the top of the trail: A pool of water and its many admirers. 

The falls that feed into the pool.  While there were a lot of people at the pool and the falls, the rest of the trail was busy but not crowded -- but I'm guessing the trail was more congested later in the day.