Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
19 dead and injured victims of the 2011 shooting. Nearby is a wheelchair-accessible
viewpoint of the area.
The AZT goes north along a straight, wide, rocky path following an underground
cable line. After 0.1 mile the trail forks, and you follow the small sign to the right
(northeast) for the AZT. The trail descends gently through mixed desert vegetation,
with various kinds of small cacti scattered through ocotillos and creosote bushes.
Crush a couple of creosote leaves to appreciate the pungent odor that these bushes re-
lease after a monsoon rain.
Within a few hundred yards, you'll see the green swath of trees of Davidson
Canyon below you. The trail becomes narrow and drops easily into the wide bed of
Cienega Creek, which is dry for much of the year; however, the 15-foot-high packed-
earth banks on either side attest to centuries of flow in the past, and you should be
prepared for a creek crossing after heavy rains.
The trail follows the creek bottom as it meanders left (west, then north again)
through mature stands of Arizona sycamore, aspens, cottonwoods, and other trees.
This is an excellent area for bird-watching. Occasional posts with AZT signs indicate
the route along Cienega Creek, and hiking here does not require a permit. The rest of
the creek is part of a natural preserve, and you'll need a free permit from Pima County
to visit it (see “Contacts”).
Soon you'll see bridge trestles bizarrely towering high above the creek. From this
angle it's hard to tell why the bridge was built, but if you wait awhile you'll discover
that this is a railroad bridge carrying westbound Union Pacific trains. Most of them
are long and colorful freight trains coming through numerous times a day; Amtrak
rolls past three times a week on its New Orleans-Los Angeles
Sunset Limited
route.
True to its name, this train passes through just after the sun goes down, so you prob-
ably won't see it.
The trail dips under the bridge and continues about 100 yards past it to an un-
signed gap on the right bank of the creek. You might see a pile of rocks or a ribbon
here. You've hiked just 0.6 mile from the trailhead.
Climb northeast through the gap in the bank and follow it as it makes a couple of
switchbacks to the flatlands above. Two more bridges come into view to the west. The
highest and largest is the eastbound Union Pacific railroad bridge; below it is the light-
colored bridge carrying Marsh Station Road vehicular traffic over the creek. Look
