car camping or short hike in Tucson.

[domromer]

I was looking for the kinder crossing or Horton Creek of Tucson. A place that you can hike for less than 3 miles, find a campsite and have relable water. Does any olace exist down there? If not can anyone offer a good place to car camp close to Tucson?

[bryanmertz]

Hi - I've stayed at Molino on the south end of Catalina and it's a nice developed CG.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest ... lino.shtml

There is a portion of the AZ Trail that runs right through the site too. There is a seasonal creek/ wash that at times has water too.

Bryan

[Lizard]

The closest to what you are looking for in the Catalina's is the Wilderness of Rocks. You can hike in ~4 miles (mostly flat if you start from Marshall Gulch), camp along Lemmon Creek and explore the Wilderness of Rocks area during the day.

Two other good options are the Box Springs trail at 2.7 miles one way, and Hutch's Pool at 4.1 miles, not including the tram ride. Hutch's pool is very popular, but you can hike upstream from the swimming hole and find some secluded campsites. All of these hikes save Hutch's Pool will be cold and potentially snowy right now, and even Hutch's Pool will be chilly at night.

Two other options, if you are willing to drive an hour+ from Tucson, are Sycamore Canyon, and Hot Springs Canyon. Both of these hikes are off-trail canyoneering trips, but on the scale of canyoneering hikes they are very easy. Both rate very high in my book.