SWEETWATER TRAIL...ONE OF OUR FAVORITE HIKES

Monday, February 20 – This morning we hiked one of our favorite trails here in Tucson, AZ. It is located on the west side of Tucson in Sweetwater Preserve. This is a very popular trail area so if you want to hike here we recommend heading out early to beat the crowds. There are also many mountain bikers that ride in this area so you find yourself sharing the trial with them. We hiked on President's Day so that may have added to the number of people out of this beautiful day.



The parking area is large so parking is not a problem. We started west on the Saguaro Vista Trial.

This is a very memorable area. Thousands upon thousands of Saguaro Cactus dot the mountainside.

We even found a crested Saguaro along this part of the trail.



We continued on taking most of the perimeter trails until reaching the “Spine” trail intersection.

Here we turned east picking up several trails until we returned to the trail head. The trails are well marked with signs showing “You are here” spot on the trail map.






We covered about 4.2 miles in under 3 hours (We stop often for pictures.) and took just over 12,000 steps. The elevation gain is minimal. As mentioned above, we hiked this trail previously and have always remembered it as one of the best for seeing Saguaro Cactus. We weren't disappointed!

This baby was sure a strange one.


A garden of prickly pear cacti greeted us along the tail.

That is Mt. Lemon with snow on the top.

Birds were every where.

We no more arrived home when a car pulled up. Here were Mary and Dave, long-time readers of our blog. We have never met them. They are staying at the campground right down the road. It was wonderful chatting with them and learning more about their home in Canada. Thanks for stopping by Mary and Dave. Their dog, Houdini, had to wait in the car. He liked Bella a bit too much....lol It was great to meet you three.

After a quick bite to eat, we took Bella, our cat, on a hike in the desert near the campground. She loves the desert!

We then relaxed for several hours before cleaning-up to meet RV friends for happy hour at Buffalo Wild Wings. This is the first time we have had the opportunity to meet up with Monaliza and Steve, Sue and Dave, Lisa and Hans. Thanks for a great time, and thanks Monaliza for the photo.

L-R: John, Dave, Sue, Marsha, Paul, Steve, Monaliza, Lisa,
Hans, Pam.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!