Breakfast Canyon, AZ

This little hiked and slightly hidden away canyon is right in the middle of the busiest area in Tucson outdoors, The Sabino Canyon recreation area. While not as dramatic as its sister canyon, Rattlesnake, it offers some very interesting features and potentials.


The hike starts out just like the trek up into Rattlesnake. After following the paved road a bit over one mile into the park, up and over the first big hill, you divert to the left into the Rattlesnake Canyon drainage (or along the Rattlesnake trail) then in a very short distance turn to your right up and into Breakfast Canyon.Depending on the rain and flood patterns the canyon bottom might be open or overgrown. As you work your way up canyon there will be assorted boulder obstacles but nothing too challenging. The interesting aspect of Breakfast Canyon was the concentration of wildlife both in the lower regions and in the upper broad meadow areas. The upper reaches of the canyon form a wide open basin with access to ridges on either side. The ridge to your left overlooks Rattlesnake Canyon and the Ridge on the right overshadows the main portion of Sabino Canyon. It can be very entertaining to sit up there and watch the spectacle that is Sabino on any given weekend.

The views over into Sabino provide a very different perspective on trails and routes you may have already hiked down below.

You will likely encounter a fair number of deer grazing the upper slopes.

Once up canyon, a fun return route is to drop over and down the ridge into Rattlesnake Canyon. It is best accomplished from the upper meadow. If you follow the ridgeline too far around and down the descent can get a bit iffy.

This hike makes for a nice getaway from the crowds typical to the other Tucson area trails.

2010-11-23 imike