Description of the Sabino Canyon Hike

This is a beautiful, civilized hike in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area of the Coronado National Forest on the northeast side of Tucson.  The actual canyon is served by a paved road that follows the streambed up the Canyon.   Due to high hiker volume, the only vehicles allowed on the pave road are Recreation Area Shuttles that carry visitors to and from the canyon on a periodic basis.  There are 9 shuttle stops in the canyon and visitors with shuttle tickets and get off or on at any of the shuttle stops.  Every other shuttle stop has pit toilets for the convenience of the visitors.  There are several trails that can be accessed from the paved road and shuttles.   One of the these is the Phoneline Trail which has a trailhead where the shuttle turns around for its return to the Visitor's Center.  The Phoneline Trail climbs steeply up the mountain for a ways and then proceeds down the canyon paralleling the road.  Eventually this trail rejoins the paved road.  This makes a very nice hike but one should be aware that the at the end of this hike one must cross the stream and during periods of higher water this might mean wading in the stream or at least "rock skipping".  

A very nice hike in Sabino Canyon is to ride the shuttle to the turn around point and to disembark there.  Then one can take the more rigorous Phoneline Trail or simply walk down the road through the canyon.  The walk back to the Visitor's Center is about 3.8 miles and by walking one can enjoy the beauty of the canyon at one's own leisurely pace.  If needed, there are Pit Toilets periodically along the way and one always has the option of catching the next  shuttle if one needs a ride back.  One does not need to ride the shuttle to hike up the canyon.  If you wish you can just hike up canyon and then hike back down.   But, without a ticket you can not get on the shuttle up in the canyon if you develop the need to do so. 

The Visitor's Center has shopping, snack foods and flush toilets.  A number of different hikes can be accessed from the Visitor's Center.

Parking costs $5 unless one has a Golden Age or Interagency Senior Pass.   One can leave the pass visible on your dashboard and so you won't be ticketed for parking in the lot. 

In December of 2014 a shuttle ticket cost $8 per person.