Sentinel Peak - Five Star Trails Tucson - page 159

the trail on the other side of the road and continue east on the left side of the lower
part of the road. Very soon you'll pass a rustic memorial stone and cross for a man
nicknamed Gibby who, presumably, loved the outdoors.
The trail is flat and rocky until about 0.3 mile from the road crossing, where it
suddenly climbs steeply and briefly to the right and encounters a T-junction—here,
turn right, roughly southwest and in the direction of the stone gazebo, climbing a
rocky path to the road around Sentinel Peak. Cross the road and you'll see the en-
trance to the upper parking lot on your right.
From this parking lot you can head west a couple of hundred yards on a straight,
flat path to the roofed stone gazebo, with wall benches, views, and a picnic bench and
barbecue grill nearby. Alternatively, find a signboard with a map of the area at the
east end of the parking lot. From here, the 0.1-mile, wheelchair-accessible Mission
View Trail (completed in the fall of 2013) takes you to a couple of new lookout points
with informative photo plaques describing Tucson's history. Also from here, various
signed trails lead the way to “A” Mountain, to the highest point of Sentinel Peak, and
to a city overlook. None of these trails is more than 0.2 mile long, and despite the
signs, it's easy to become confused by the decades of footprints that have been made
by past visitors. Don't worry—you can't get lost.
Nearby Attractions
Downtown Tucson is experiencing a renaissance, with a new streetcar being com-
pleted as this topic goes to press. The streetcar, which will link the University of Ari-
zona with downtown via Fourth Avenue, should be running by early fall of 2014.
Fourth Avenue prides itself on having numerous local eateries, drinking establish-
ments, and eclectic shops without having one chain outfit. It completely closes to
traffic twice a year for spring and winter street fairs (usually March and December),
which seem to attract most of Tucson.
Congress Street also boasts a bunch of fine but offbeat restaurants, as well as
music venues and the beautifully refurbished Fox Theatre, which looks the way it did
when it opened in 1930. Streets nearby lead to the Tucson Convention Center, the
Tucson Museum of Art and other museums, several theatres, and historic districts.
The Tucson Visitor Center (110 S. Church St., Ste. 7199, in La Placita Village;
800-638-8350; visittucson.org ) is a source of local information, as is this writer's