Sabino Canyon

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Bear Canyon Trail at Sabino Canyon

Sabino Canyon is a significant canyon located in the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, USA. Sabino Canyon is a popular recreation area for residents and visitors of Southern Arizona, providing a place to walk, hike or ride. Minutes away from the desert are large waterfalls with minor bridges constructed over them. Wildlife in the canyon includes deer, javelina, skunks, tortoises, rattlesnakes and mountain lions.

The history of Sabino Canyon began with the formation of the Santa Catalina Mountains over 12 million years ago. Around 5 million B.C., the mountains ceased formation around the Tucson valley. Plant life first appeared between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago, and some of the earliest human occupants of Sabino Canyon were the Native American Hohokam people.

An earthquake centered in northern Mexico in 1887 dislodged massive boulders lining the canyon walls, which came to rest in the valley below. In 1905 the newly created U.S. Forest Service began administering Sabino Canyon. During the Great Depression, the bridges over Sabino Creek and the Sabino Dam were constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Emergency Relief Administration (ERA).

The first trams in Sabino Canyon began operating in October, 1978. From that point forward, access by cars was restricted to allow visitors to reach Upper Sabino Canyon by foot, bicycle or tram. Sabino Canyon Tours was founded in May, 1985 and provides visitors the opportunity to experience the noted beauty of Sabino Canyon.

NOTE: On July 31, 2006, flooding from a thunderstorm washed out the bridge at Rattlesnake Creek (just beyond mile marker 1 and shuttle stop #1), restricting the tram to the road below this point. Many portions of the roadway above Rattlesnake Creek also received damage from the flooding, including silt and debris scattered onto it. Tram service has now (as of May 2007) been restored to stop #4, and the road is open to walkers beyond that point. $1.2M from the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) program will be used to complete repairs to the road and restore tram service to stop #9.

Federal funding is increasingly unable to keep pace with the pressures that urbanization and over a million visitors a year have placed on Sabino Canyon. Friends of Sabino Canyon, an independent non-profit organization, was founded in 1993 to raise additional funds to preserve and enhance Sabino Canyon.

Friends of Sabino Canyon has provided nearly $500,000 for projects in Sabino Canyon, including trail rehabilitation in the aftermath of the Aspen Fire, a water well, educational exhibits in the visitor center, new entrance plaza facilities, research into bats, amphibians and reptiles, and the restoration of the original Lowell House Ranger Station and the historic depression-era bridges and other stonework. The group is currently aiming to raise half a million dollars for the repair of trails damaged by floods and debris flows in the summer of 2006.

Friends of Sabino Canyon holds an outdoor holiday concert, Music in the Canyon, every year to raise funds for its work, and its major donors are recognized on hand-painted tiles at the entrance to Sabino Canyon, reflecting a variety of southwestern themes.

Named after the canyon is the nearby Sabino High School.