Julia and I recently returned to Sabino Canyon to hike to Seven Falls. In retrospect, we could have been started at the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area parking lot, which would have cut off 15 minutes of drive time. But my Alltrails map didn't suggest that as an option, Instead, when I searched for Seven Falls, the first trail that came up was the Bear Canyon to Seven Falls option.
Bear Canyon could be a useful trailhead for anyone who doesn't have a National Parks pass and doesn't want to pay the $8 daily fee for parking at the Sabino Canyon parking lot. The Bear Canyon trailhead is a Pima County trail and has limited but free parking. On the weekday that we hiked, the parking lot only had a few cars parked. On the weekend, the small parking lot fills early, and people walk nearly a mile just to get to the trailhead parking lot.
This is an in and out trail and totals around 8 miles.
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The trail starts in a rocky wash and gradually goes uphill. After crossing into the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, the trail becomes more distinct. When the water is running, and it was that day, the trail crosses the creek about a half dozen times. We completed most of the hike in with full shade. It took a long time for the sun to peek over the right side of the canyon.
Most of these crossings are fairly easy (stepping from convenient rock to convenient rock). Later the trail begins a number of switchbacks, eventually ending with a very nice view of Seven Falls (we only counted five falls, but there were probably a couple of more beyond our view).
From here, the trail drops until one arrives at what was a fairly large pool on the day of our hike. In fact, we were surprised to see small fish darting around in the shallow area of the pool. The water was quite cold. If one continues past the pool, there is a water slide that we didn't try, but watched several teenagers doing so and enjoying themselves.
A short climb gets you to the top of one of the falls, and it's also possible to walk to its base. The rocks are slippery, and one teenager took an awkward fall and ended up with some rock burn. Their small group looked up at us to see if anyone had seen him fall. We gave a friendly wave, and they all laughed.
The way back was almost all downhill, although there was quite a bit more sun and a lot more people coming up the trail. This was a good hike for the two of us--not too steep, not too long, and. not too short.
