December 9, 2022 hike: Sabino loop - Bear Canyon to East Fork to Sabino Canyon Trail to Phoneline.
It was a beautiful sunny day with little wind and temps in the low 60s. The weather conditions made for easy hiking and I ended up running much of the trail. The trail remains easy to follow, even with a bit more grass than usual in the less traveled areas. The footing is mostly good, albeit with some relatively easy rocky sections, especially on Phoneline trail.
The beautiful sun made for spectacular scenery, particularly in lower Bear Canyon, the view up West Fork and the dramatic gorge beside Sabino Canyon trail (1-2 miles above the last tram stop). The creeks were running and for the first time in three years, I had to take off my shoes and socks to make one creek crossing. As usual, there was a fair bit of hiker traffic in Bear Canyon up to Seven Falls. After that, I saw two lone hikers, a small hiker group and one trail runner over roughly 12 miles. Seven Falls was a great sight; it wasn't the best water flow I've seen, but it was pretty impressive.
Photo 1 shows looks up the lower part of Bear canyon from near just before the start of the canyon. You can see beautiful lower desert vegetation in the foreground and, in the distance, the mountain that marks the end of the lower canyon. Seven Falls is a short distance below the mountain.
Photos 2 and 3 show Seven Falls in Bear Canyon and the spectacular mountains surrounding the falls. Photo 2 looks up at the mountains and ridgeline above the falls. Photo 3 shows a number of the falls and related pools.
Photo 4 looks down (west) Bear Canyon from about mid-way up the upper part of Bear Canyon (about 7 miles from the Sabino parking lot). The lower desert vegetation is thinning out into mostly grasslands and small trees at this point, as is evidenced by the thinning density of saguaros.
Photo 5 looks up (east) Bear Canyon from near the same spot as photo 4. You can see the Catalina highway on the mountain in the distance. I believe the picture shows the Thimble Peak Vista on the highway.
Photo 6 is a video walking along the end of the Bear Canyon trail (about 8 miles in). Suddenly, you crest a ridge to a spectacular view of the back country East and West Fork canyon with the high Catalinas in the distance.
Photos 7 and 8 are still images of the East and West Fork canyon shown in the photo 6 video. East Fork is in the foreground and it becomes West Fork in the background. Photo 6 shows the whole length of the East and West Fork canyon, while photo 7 shows a close up of the West Fork end of the canyon, which is much higher and hilly. The canyon runs roughly northwest. This is real backcountry, with very little human traffic and no phone service. I love the serenity and grandeur of this piece of almost untouched nature.
Photo 9 looks up (west) the dramatic gorge beside the Sabino Canyon trail. The picture really doesn't do justice to the immense size of the shear slab rock walls of the gorge. The small Sabino creek snakes along the bottom of the gorge.
Photo 10 looks down (southwest) Sabino Canyon, a short distance from the top of Phoneline trail. I like the sharp, dramatic rock formations in this area and the broad sweeping vista of the canyon that hikers get to enjoy along most of the Phoneline trail.
The hike was extremely enjoyable and a great workout. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful.
Hike stats: 17.6 miles with 2,835 feet of vertical to a peak of 4,800 feet in 6 hours 26 minutes (5 hours 21 minutes excluding lunch and photo time). You can cover a lot of distance on this trail as the surface is quite conducive to trail running.
