A Day In Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, Tucson

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Welcome to the magical world of cactus forests, desert foothills, and rocky gorges – that’s Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

To your children, it will feel like exploring a fairy kingdom, and for us adults, it’s a nature playground full of rugged hiking trails and creek crossings.

With 30 miles of hiking trails, plenty of picnic spots, and opportunities to get wet (a necessity to escape the heat in this Southern Arizona region), its easy to see why locals never getting bored of this park!

If you’re thinking of exploring Sabino Canyon, in this guide we share how you could easily spend an entire day here!

About Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

Hiking in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area is a bucketlist experience in Arizona.

It’s one of the few places in the Sonoran desert where you can find water, and as such, you’ll find unique wildlife and flora have made a home here – that’s why it’s such a unique experience to visit!

Of the wildlife that live here, it’s possible to see many desert dwelling reptiles such as lizards, gila monsters, and snakes, including rattlesnakes. Mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, roadrunners, javelinas and jackrabbits, white-tailed deer call this park home.

There’s also an abundance of bird species, such as vermilion flycatchers, hummingbirds, gray hawks, ravens, woodpeckers, and more.

It’s only 12 miles north east of downtown Tucson and full of easily and accessible hiking trails to suit all levels and ages.

We only spent a couple of hours here, which was enough time to do one of the Sabino Canyon hiking trails. It wasn’t the hiking trail we had planned, but I was not disappointed.

Sabino Canyon is made up of three life zones:

• the desert which is dominated by the iconic saguaro cactus, which we grew to adore
• the riparian corridor adjacent to Sabino Creek
• the mixed conifer forests that crown Sabino Canyon with an elevation of 9,157 feet

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.

There is a $8 per car recreation fee per day, or $10 for a week. Although for some reason they weren’t taking the fees when we visited.

Bicycles are…