Seven Falls

Today I decided to hike to Seven Falls in the Santa Catalina mountains outside of Tucson, Arizona. Although it's in Coronado National Forest, the hike begins in Sabino Canyon recreation area ($5 a car - that's me.) Then you can either hike from the visitors center (slightly over seven miles round trip) or take their shuttle to the trail head (another $3.) I took the shuttle which brought the hike down to a barely manageable five mile round trip.


For the first two miles, the trail follows Bear creek and actually crosses the creek seven times. Luckily the water level was perfect - enough to have water running over the falls, but not enough to bury the stepping stones. When I started out, I had a group of 24 teens and their two leaders behind me. When they passed, and there was no doubt that they would, I heard a couple of them commenting on (alright making fun of) my hiking sticks. I'm sure they changed their tune when they hit the first creek crossing. I actually caught up with them at every crossing. It takes awhile to get that many people across.



When I got home and looked at my pictures, I noticed I took this same exact shot coming and going. How weird. It's not that great a picture, but that rock outcropping really was interesting in person.



The wildflowers were even better than in King Canyon (previous post.) Although the poppies are the only ones that show up in the pictures, there were lots of others. I call this "nature's rock garden."



This little guy dashed across my path and actually held still for a picture.



During the last 1/2 mile, the trail went up some switchbacks and high up the side of the canyon before dropping back down to the base of the falls. Well, I guess if it stayed down along the creek anybody could do it.





I have to throw in a couple more flowers here. Once again, I don't know what they are.

















I finally made it! There really are seven falls, but you can't get them in one shot. Oh, I should have taken a movie! Why didn't I think of that?