Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
feel like an eagle soaring in and out of gullies. Some hikers take the
Sabino Canyon
shuttle
to the end of Sabino Canyon Road and hike the Phoneline Trail in reverse.
Route Details
From the southeast end of the parking lot, the trail begins with a sign for Bear Canyon
Trailhead, adjacent to a map and a drinking fountain. Walk east on a flat track wide
enough to hike six abreast. After about 100 yards, the optional 0.25-mile Bajada Loop
Nature Trail is to the left. It's wheelchair-accessible but unpaved, so helpful pushes
may be needed to enjoy this educational experience.
The wide track terminates at Bear Canyon Road, almost 0.5 mile from the parking
lot. Follow the road to your right for 0.25 mile until you reach a restroom (flush toi-
lets, drinking water), which you should consider using because the Phoneline Trail is
narrow and exposed with no convenient bushes. Stop 2 on the Bear Canyon shuttle
route is outside the restroom. Here, turn right (east), following the sign for Sabino
Dam East and Bear Canyon. The road crosses a bridge over Sabino Creek—a bridge
that can be knee-deep in overflowing water during spring runoffs or autumn mon-
soons. In that case, take your boots off and wade carefully across. Usually, the creek
trickles pleasantly under the bridge, but it dries up completely in summer.
Immediately past the bridge, the road comes to a T-junction; cross the junction to
find a sign for Phoneline Trail #27. Climb the narrow, rocky trail, and almost imme-
diately find another signed T-junction, where you turn left and start climbing stead-
ily east and swinging quickly to the north. You are following the route of the histor-
ic phone line that used to be the main link between Tucson and the Palisade Ranger
Station on Mount Lemmon before the road now known as the Catalina Highway was
built.
The climb is gentle—about 500 feet of elevation gain in almost a mile—but
provides increasingly open views of the saguaro forest and, in spring, wildflowers.
Almost 0.6 mile along the trail, a signed junction to the right (east) indicates the
Blackett's Ridge Trail
. The Phoneline Trail continues northeast and then swings dra-
matically around to the northwest, hugging the canyon contours.
Views of Sabino Canyon Road below and downtown Tucson, 11 miles away to
the southwest, become increasingly grand until you reach a trail fork 0.4 mile bey-
ond the Blackett's Ridge junction. Here, you have the choice of continuing along the
