Lower Sabino Trails in Sabino Canyon

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is ready to hit the trails again. We began the year with an easier hike because we have been pretty idle for a couple of weeks. We hiked the lower Sabino Trails in Sabino Canyon. We had a pretty good size group this week, 5 men and 5 women. We hit the road heading to the canyon at 8:30 a.m. with beautiful blue skies and perfect hiking temperatures and arrived at the visitor’s center about 45 minutes later.

Starting out with JoAnn in the lead

Gina and LaNeta

JoAnn had mapped out a hike of interconnecting trails that would total approximately 3 miles with an elevation of about 100 feet. Pretty easy – even for me….the Novice Hiker.

Unexpected friends along the way

Breathtaking!

We started on the Esperero Trail and traveled that for about a mile until we reached the Rattlesnake Trail. From Rattlesnake Trail we traveled down a wash and over to the Sabino Tram road. We stopped for a break at a beautiful little picnic area near a stream.

Just drinking in the scenery

Head 'em up!

We then followed the trails and tram road back to the visitor center. We waited until we reached the visitor’s center to eat our lunch since the hike took such a short time.

Jim, Ernie (who has also been absent) and Gordy

No matter how short or long the hikes we travel, they are each unique in their own way. They are all equally beautiful and challenging.

Saguaro growing out of a rock

We really appreciate the time and effort JoAnn puts into choosing just the right hikes for the group. We had a bonus this week. Our long MIA George returned for a hike. We made fun of how we named plants in his absence because he is the hiker that usually knows about all the plants. He knows the names of them, what the Native Americans used them for, and what we can actually use them for now. We really missed him.

Yay George!!! The runaway....

Roadrunner.....

Another thing we missed about George was his sense of humor. We found this mound of rocks that sort of looked like how you would bury people in the old western movies, and of course George immediately stuck a trekking pole in the mound and stated that it was a hiker that didn’t make it.