Sabino Canyon

August 28, 2005

It's all timing. Tucson just got four inches of rain last week, so the water was up over the road in Sabino Canyon. However, the forecast was for a cloudless sky and record-breaking heat.

With a 5:00 am start, we reached the trailhead at 6:30 -- well before the first tram -- and hiked up the road to one of three superb swimming holes.

Hiking downstream between 1 and 2

Nature hurries to finish her business while there's water. It was raining cottonwood fuzz, and red dragonflies entertained us with a strange mating dance.

The whirlpool at number 3.

The double waterfall.

Summer wildflowers abound ...

...but the flower of the hour is the barrel cactus, in yellow and red and everything in between.

We dipped in every puddle on the way down (as usual) ...

... and we stopped to take too many photos (as usual).

... and we didn't make it back to the car until 1:30, by which time we had the road to ourselves and the shuttle drivers were pointing us out as a local curiosity.

Temperature: 106 degrees.