Sabino Canyon & Time with Judy

We were able to spend time with our friend Judy on Friday. We met her at her place and drove out to Sabino Canyon. She is an avid hiker and we are novices, but she knew of some good trails that were about our speed and was happy to take us out there.

She has been a volunteer at the Vistor's Center there and knows the area quite well.

It was a beautiful afternoon and the trails and area were pretty busy.

It was not real crowded, just a steady stream of folks like us enjoying the beautiful day and the nature trails. Judy ran into a couple of groups of folks she regularly hikes with during the week who were just coming off the trails.

We started out from the Visitor's Center and headed up toward the dam. Sabiono Canyon is a popular hiking and recreation spot for Tucsonians and has been since the 1930's. The Work Projects Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps both did some work in the canyon building roads, bridges and trails.

At one point, they built a dam, thinking it may supply electrical power to Tucson, but it never materialized they way they thought it would.There are a number of trails of various lengths and difficulties. We crossed a service road which was closed to public traffic in the late 1970's.

It is still used to shuttle visitors up to observations points in the canyon.

From there we crossed over to Rattlesnake Trail and made our way back to the visitor center.

Not far fro the Visitor's Center is a Nature Trail with one of the most unique cacti I have ever seen. These phenomenon are called 'crested saguaros'.

Biologists disagree as to why these saguaros grow in the fan like form. Some say it is a result of a mutation. Others say it is the result of frost, or lightening damage.

It was a glorious day and the scenery was beautiful. I can see why people come here in the winter time...

After our hike, we went back to the Visitor Center, looked around,

then headed back to Judy's for some conversation and dinner.

We sat outside, while Judy started cooking dinner. Then, after the sun started going down, we headed inside for a great dinner.

It was a great afternoon and evening and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with Judy.

Everything we heard about the popular Sabino Canyon is true--it is definitely worth a visit if you've never been there.