Sabino Canyon Lower Loop • Canyon Trip • Arizona • All Triplogs • HikeArizona.COM

Sabino Canyon to Catalina State Park

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Wifey wanted to do Phoneline on a Saturday in “winter” which meant Sabino was a zoo and there was no parking except at the overflow. So we cut over to Phoneline Link and headed into the canyon, missing the first bit of Phoneline trail.

Passed one of my clients, which was fun.

Wifey’s bum foot was being a bum so we took the tram back. The driver kindly let us off at the connector for the overflow lot.

Jan 20 2025

ddgrunning

Guides 3
Routes 632
Photos 8,235
Triplogs 604

54 male

Joined Apr 13 2011
Gilbert, AZ

Sabino Canyon to Catalina State Park

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Jan 20 2025
		ddgrunning • Triplogs 604

Hiking	21.84 Miles	4,211 AEG

Hiking	21.84 Miles	11 Hrs 4 Mns	2.17 mph
	4,211 ft AEG	1 Hour 1 Min Break

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8 linked trail guides

Hutch's Pool

Phoneline Link Trail #27A

Phoneline Trail #27

Santa Catalina Mountains - AZT #11

West Fork Trail #24 - Sabino

Romero Canyon Trail #8

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I’ll call this one the Trans-Catalina or the Tucson R2R. Similar stats. Weather was beautiful. Hutch’s pool was cooler than expected. Romero pools were a little less exciting than when we visited last year.

Would like to do it again when there is more water flowing.

We dropped a car at Catalina and then drove down to Sabino for the start. Saw a couple of road walkers and a biker over the short section of road before taking the Phoneline connector.

Passed 2 other people on the Phoneline then didn’t see another soul until Romero pools.

The trail was easy to follow throughout. Only one spot on the Romero side where we had to backtrack slightly to see that the trail took a high route up from a campsite near a seasonal waterfall (which has prompted folks to tramp out a defined path to its base that looks a lot like the official trail).

Speaking of campsites, lots of great spots along the trail. I marked several on my route.

Overall, a great way to experience the Catalinas.

_____________________

3 archives

Apr 05 2021

andrewp

Guides 3
Routes 13
Photos 231
Triplogs 15

male

Joined Sep 27 2020
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Hiking		Apr 05 2021
		andrewp • Triplogs 15

Hiking	13.71 Miles	2,180 AEG

Hiking	13.71 Miles	7 Hrs 48 Mns	2.00 mph
	2,180 ft AEG	56 Mns Break

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Had so much fun the last time that I wanted to be sure to get this one in at least one more time before it got too hot. This time I decided to enter via the West Fork to see how much different that approach is from the East Fork.

Given the projected high temps for the day and the fact that a wetsuit might get a bit toasty when out of the water I decided to get an early start (6:30am) and walk the tram road rather than wait for the 9:00am tram start. Ultimately this got me to the stream entry point about two hours earlier, but the cost was an extra 7 miles of walking.

Once into Sabino Basin I took the West Fork trail toward Hutch's Pool. After approximately 1/2 mile you'll reach a point where the West Fork is in view and you can see a small sloped meadow on the other side. Immediately after crossing a small drainage look for a reasonably obvious use trail heading down to the stream. I chose this spot to enter as the stretch from here to Hutch's Pool is relatively flat and boring. This is the spot where the deeper pools start.

Once I reached the streambed I found an area to change into my wetsuit and stowed the rest of my gear into my dry pack. As I was a bit concerned about overheating I used a lighter suit (2mm fullsuit with short sleeves) and this was just about perfect.

The stretch to the confluence on the West Fork is similar to the same stretch on the East Fork. After a short walk I encountered the first pool and from there spent most of my time in deep water until I reached the confluence where the canyon widens and the stream gets shallow. Although these pools were large and deep they weren't nearly as fun as those on the East Fork which is most likely due to the East Fork being a bit steeper from the trail crossing to the confluence. The east side is a lot more scrambling and downclimbing with deep, high-walled pools whereas the west side is a bunch of long, calm, and deep pools.

From the confluence the rest of the trip was much as I remembered from a month ago. After injuring my arm in a solid rock collision and almost getting stuck in a hole on the last trip I was a little more conservative this time around. The three spots that provided significant challenges last time ended up being reasonably easy to bypass after looking around a bit more carefully.

Once I got to the area below tram stop 9 I decided to continue on to the point where the stream crosses the road just below stop 8. This ended up adding some effort as the stream bed is very rocky in spots and those rocks are very slippery. I was tired at that point and getting clumsy. There are a couple of nice pools in this area and one in particular was an excellent swimming (and cannonball-jumping) swimming hole. In the end I appreciated not having to climb up the hill to stop 9 just to give up that gain on the walk back to the car.

Parked myself on the slickrock just before the last bridge, changed, had a snack and walked back to the car. This was the perfect way to wrap up a four day weekend (and one of those times I really appreciate working for a company that gives me the US and UK holidays

)

East Fork Sabino Canyon

Light flow

Sabino Canyon

Light flow

West Fork Sabino Canyon

Light flow

Feb 28 2021

andrewp

Guides 3
Routes 13
Photos 231
Triplogs 15

male

Joined Sep 27 2020
Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Feb 28 2021
		andrewp • Triplogs 15

Canyoneering	6.20 Miles	1,239 AEG

Canyoneering	6.20 Miles	5 Hrs 1 Min	1.46 mph
	1,239 ft AEG	47 Mns Break

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The last time I hiked Sabino Canyon trail #23 I could hear the sound of rushing water down below and developed an insatiable need to explore this nearly invisible part of Sabino Canyon. After reading a few tidbits on this site and others (including the 2010 triplog from @Vaporman) I decided to, quite literally, take the plunge.

After sourcing some gear (waterproof dry pack and wetsuit) it became apparent that my only opportunity to do this trip was going to be Feb 28 or wait several weeks. Although the weather wasn't ideal (forecast in the 50s and very windy) I decided that I could always bail out if things got ugly.

Took the 9am tram to the last stop and powered through the 2.6mi to the intersection with the East Fork. Turned left and proceeded down the stream until I hit the first pool that would require wading. There was a nice clean slab of granite here so this was the perfect spot for a snack and to change into my wetsuit. After making sure that my $20 Amazon special dry backpack appeared to be air tight I sent a quick InReach note to my wife to wish me luck and set off.

Plotted a course through the center of the pool in front of me and proceeded down the East Fork. From here to the confluence with the West Fork I traversed a series of narrow pools with small falls on the outlets. Depth ranged from a few feet to a couple of spots where I couldn't easily find the bottom. This was primarily a swimming excursion at this point and it was an absolute blast.

The water was COLD . I took temperature measurements in a few different spots and depending on depth and sun exposure it was between 48 and 51 degrees. Fortunately, the 3/2 wetsuit I bought worked out perfectly and I never felt chilled in the water.

The confluence was a bit of a let down as I had expected something interesting to happen here, but it was nothing more than two streams coming together. Looking up the West Fork I saw what appeared to be a similar set of pools to what I had just traversed.

From the confluence to the narrows the stream bed opened up and I was mostly wading through small knee-deep sections and a lot of slippery rocks. Stream flow slowed enough in this area that there were several spots that were more like a marsh than a stream.

As I approached the narrows the stream tightened up and the terrain became more technical with larger boulders and deeper pools. There is a large pool in the center of the narrows which I've seen referred to as Miner's Pool. This is a very deep pool at the entry which makes for some fun jumping in off of the boulder choking the gap. There's even a very dodgy rope on the stream left side which may or may not be safe to pull yourself back up for another jump. If it weren't for the wind and its cooling effect on my wetsuit I would have spent some more time here.

Below the narrows things got quite a bit more technical and really started pushing the limits of my skills. In this stretch house and car-sized boulders create a series of stepped pools. Unfortunately in several places the drop from the upper pool to the lower one is significant and the pool below isn't nearly deep enough to support a jump.

In three spots I had a lot of trouble finding a route. In one of those I successfully navigated a safe path. In another I found a safe path, but slipped when trying to execute which made for a much less controlled descent than I would have liked. The third one was the one that really scared me and if it weren't for the lucky deposit of a piece of driftwood I'm not sure I would have made it through. I ended up finding a path by hiking up the side of the canyon to bypass the boulders which was reasonably easy, but through a forest of thorny plants. Once into the lower pool I realized that one of the more direct routes which I had initially dismissed would have been reasonably easy to execute. Hindsight is always 20/20...

Once out of the technical section is was a wading a rock-hopping exercise to pickup the trail that leads back up to the road. Once I had gotten to the exit point and changed out of my wetsuit I only had a few minutes to catch the tram. I started up the trail and could hear the tram approaching. Not certain that I would make it I jumped off the trail into the adjacent drainage and started boulder hopping up the side of the hill. Popped up at the guardrail, startled a number of people, and took a seat on the waiting tram.

This was, without a doubt, the most fun I've had in a long time. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have done this excursion alone, but with the exception of the technical spots toward the end it was all very manageable for someone with no prior experience.

East Fork Sabino Canyon

Medium flow

Sabino Canyon

Medium flow

West Fork Sabino Canyon

Medium flow

2 archives

Apr 04 2010

Vaporman

Guides 3
Routes 4
Photos 8,687
Triplogs 931

46 male

Joined Mar 28 2005
Gilbert, AZ

Tucson, AZ

Canyoneering		Apr 04 2010
		Vaporman • Triplogs 931

Canyoneering	15.50 Miles	1,700 AEG

Canyoneering	15.50 Miles	8 Hrs 15 Mns	1.88 mph
	1,700 ft AEG

Basic Canyoneering - Scrambling; easy climbing/downclimbing; frequent hand use; rope recommended; easy exit

B - Up to light current; wading/swimming; possible wet/dry suit

II - Normally requires a half day

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Hutch's Pool