It's About the (RV) Journey....: Sabino Canyon............

I do believe it is warmer in NJ (our previous home) right now! The daytime temps have been in low 50's in Tucson, and the nights...wow....in the low 20's! We have been disconnecting the water overnight to avoid frozen water lines, and using the tank water for everything but drinking. For drinking, we used bottled water. I always keep a few emergency jugs of water in the camper just in case....and I was glad we had it. Some of our neighbors that did not disconnect the water had issues! Not fun! As for heat, we have a heat pump that uses electric heat and warms us nicely as long as its over 40 degrees out. If its colder, we switch to propane. Needless to say, we have been using propane heat, and even got a refill right before we left the campground. Conveniently, the propane company came right to the camper. That is a bonus when staying in a large RV park...the amenities and ease of doing daily "house" type things are much much easier because you don't have to unhook and drive somewhere for the service you need. As we like to say, "press the easy button", something we never used to do. Hahaha.

snowbirds in Arizona! What???

getting the chill off first thing

the rewards of being a fanatical knitter....hahahha....nice and warm

Tom is wearing out his felted "clogs".... and I've already made him a spare pair...ahhaha (by the way, we have the rugs in the camper because it gets really cold otherwise)

Our last full day in Tucson was earmarked for hiking in Sabino Canyon. What a beautiful place! If you can't hike, or don't want to, there is a tram available to take you the 3.7 miles up the canyon. There are many hiking trails as well, or you can walk up the paved road. It is just gorgeous. The park is very popular, and for good reason. For more information, click here.

this is unusual...hiking with gloves and a few layers

We have been here previously and loved it so much, we came back for more hiking. The park ranger helped us out (my height issues!) and suggested some really nice trails, however they were near the beginning of the park, and we really wanted to go up the canyon as well. SO, we combined all of it and hiked a bit over 9 miles. It was a beautiful day!

We started out on the Esperero Trail, and picked up the Rattlesnake Trail from there. The trails were well marked, and we had the trails to ourselves. We did not see anyone else on these trails. We walked up and down, over and around for about a mile and a half or so before hitting the paved road leading up the canyon. The sights were wonderful and the walking peaceful. There were lots of birds on this part of the hike, providing lovely background music to hike to!

Brrr....its in the 30's

there is snow on those mountains

is that a picture or what?

and another....we just love the desert....its beautiful

birds everywhere...singing for our hiking pleasure

ouch!

going 'round the mountain

hello

yup...we are going the right way

the view goes on and on

view towards the canyon

what an interesting hike (and pretty easy too)

we had the trail to ourselves

pretty

love the cacti

we like these little cactus trees too

some of cacti grow out of the rock

"Grace" (as in graceful) is not my middle name...hahaha

Soon we were back on the paved road, leading up the canyon. There is no car traffic, only the trolley, and that comes once an hour. There are 9 different stops along the way, but it looked like no one really got off until stop #9, at the end of the road. Some people choose to walk back down, but a surprising amount of young healthy tourists stay on the trolley even for the ride back down. After a bit of lunch, we walked back down most of the paved road until we reached Bluff Trail. The views are just beautiful. Truly a gem of a park in Tucson!

starting the walk up the canyon

refueling at a scenic water spot

heading back up to the road

so much water here in the canyon....its a treat to see

looks like a picture...

another beautiful spot...we loved the reflections in the water

many of the bridges had a lot of water to get around..its deeper than it looks!

the road goes slightly up the whole way

beautiful color....always a giveaway as to where the water is!

are we hikers or photographers??

warming up now!!! (its in the low 50's now, but the sun is very strong)

this is as far as we can see up the canyon

the end of the road....time for lunch

the road back...how about that awesome scenery?

hope I can walk these distances when I'm her age! (My idol!)

pretty

the way down is a breeze...and the views spectacular

trying to keep my feet dry! its deeper than it looks

beautiful pop of color

more pretty views

more color...how pretty!

see the moonrise?

still walking out of the canyon...and the views are really great

pretty deep here! My hero (Tom) held my hand so I wouldn't fall into the water on the left as I used the rocks as stepping stones. He has waterproof hiking shoes, and I don't (yet)

isn't that pretty....the rocks were glowing in the afternoon sun

another water feature along the canyon

a roadrunner....we saw one here at this same spot last year!

From there, it was the Sabino Lake Trail to the Bear Canyon Trail. All of it,about a mile and a half, was really nice. The park ranger also gave us a heads up to look for a crested saguaro near one of the bathrooms on the trail. We found it! It wasn't easy to spot, and if she didn't tell us about it, we would have missed it. The footing in that area was a bit dicey, over a very rocky part of the trail, and we were concentrating on our feet and not looking around. When we reached the bathroom, we realized we missed it and backtracked up the hill till we found it. Sweet!