Thursday 8 March 2012

Sabino Canyon – Phone Line Trail

Surrounded by the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, Sabino Canyon lies on the edge of Tucson.   We rode the tram to the top.

and then hiked up the short, steep switchbacks to join the Phoneline Trail.

The Phoneline Trail was built in the early 1900’s as part of a dam project that was never built, a few rusted poles are still visible on sections of the trail.

Once we reached the top of the switchbacks the trail sort of levelled out but was still sandy and rocky, the wildflowers are just starting to bloom.



 The views from the trail are absolutely spectacular.

Looking back into Tucson.

More spectacular views.


From tram stop 9 to the car park the trail is about 5 miles long and although classed as moderate felt pretty strenuous to me!   That's probably because the day we did the hike it turned out to be sunny and very, very hot, far too hot for me, although DB wasn't nearly as bothered by heat.   By the time we reached the car park I was shattered and headed straight to the pool for a refreshing cool down when we got back to Rincon.

Would we do it again?  Yes, probably, but I would start much earlier (I don’t like getting up early) and probably walk up from the car park rather than down from the tram.

Have fun, we are!

2 comments:

  1. Spring in the desert is so beautiful! I like your photograph of the poppies. They're dotting the Franklins in Texas, too. Thanks for sharing :)

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