Mike Breiding's Epic Road Trips: 2022

14 January 2022
Hiking up Bear Creek Canyon to Seven Falls

In the Catalina Mountains there are many fine hikes. One of the most popular is the hike up Bear Creek Canyon to Seven Falls.
Depending on which trail head you start from, this hike is 7-9 miles with about 1000' feet of elevation gain. This puts it within reach of a lot of people and a lot of people you will see if you take this hike.

The last time we were in Bear Canyon was March 23rd of 2021. We had made plans to meet with hiking buddy Leslie who lives near the canyon and head on up to the Falls.
But there was not one drop of water in Bear Creek and everything looked parched and depressing so we turned around after about 2 miles and headed back to Leslie's place.

What a difference a year can make. 2020 was one of the hottest and driest summers on record and 2021 was one of the wettest. All the rains were transformational to say the least! Now water flowed everywhere and recent snows in the mountains will steadily feed the creeks in the Catalina, Rincons and Santa Rita Mountains.

So when we got a trip report from Steffi and Robert about the water in Bear Creek and good flow at the falls we thought we had better head over that way and have a look for ourselves.

Steffi and Robert at Seven Falls

Click the map to see the route on Google MyMaps

Here is the route Betsy and I hiked. This is a hike of 7s: 7 miles, 7 stream crossing and Seven Falls. But if you hike the route Betsy and I chose there are 8 stream crossings - one way. That means 16 crossings in 7 miles. There is an AllTrails route map here.

The start of the hike is on an old roadway which is now part of a Pima County Conservation area. Pima County also owns the parking area. If this were not the case there would be no access from this point. Pima County has developed 27 trail heads, some of which provide access to the Coronado NF trails and are critical for public access.

This is looking south back toward the Bear Canyon Trailhead. The mountain range in the distance is the Santa Rita Mountains where there are about 80 miles of hiking trails and the beautiful Madera Canyon and creek.

The hike started with a few clouds but we eventually had complete cloud cover.

When we left Tucson in March of 2020 all the Saguaros, barrel and prickly pear cactus were looking parched and stressed. Now after the rains of the monsoon which were the third wettest on record everything is looking nice and plump.

The green trees in the foreground are Palo Verde which is Spanish for "green stick". Palo Verdes are common trees in the Sonoran desert and make an excellent tree for both commercial and residential landscapes.

Note the numerous holes in the Saguaro on the right. Gila woodpeckers and gilded flickers make these for nesting cavities. Some species of hawks and owls will also use the holes provided by the woodpeckers.

Sometimes it's hard to keep my finger off the shutter button.

The Pima County access trail leads to a pass through in the boundary fence and on the other side of that fence is the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area which is within the Coronado National Forest .

Just on the other side of that fence is the roadway to Bear Canyon with is used by both hikers and the so called "Canyon Crawler" which is a fee based shuttle service available in both Sabino and Bear Canyons. There is also a fee to enter the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area which is currently 8 dollars a day.

After about a quarter of a mile of road walking we were at the entrance gate to the trail we would take up to Seven Falls. Like many of the USFS signs, this one was installed for use by those who are 8' tall or taller.

Here we are starting up the canyon with sunshine and blues skies and a light down canyon breeze. Lovely...

Here we are at Traffic Jam #1. This is why I don't lead this hike anymore. With large groups it can take what I consider an intolerable amount of time before everyone manages to get across without getting their tootsies wet. This scene would then occur 13 more times before the end of the hike.
Betsy and I did not worry about getting our feet wet. We both wore our Chacos and simply walked on through rather than engage in all the tedious rock hopping.

The summer rains caused an explosion of growth. This is what is left from a heavy growth of Morning Glory vine. We have seen acres and acres of this vine covering just about everything.

Originally I assumed what we were seeing was Canyon Morning Glory (Ipomoea barbatisepala. But I recently found out there is an invasive non native species of morning glory call Ivy-leaved morning glory (Ipomoea hederacea). It is native to tropical parts of the Americas and has now been found from Arizona to Florida and as far north as Ontario. Bummer.

Here is Betsy using some of the rocks. We found if we plowed thorough the creek sediment it plugged up our Chacos so we started using submerged rocks to clear them out.

Here we are at the Seven Falls area. It was very busy and there was a constant procession of hikers going up and down the trail and getting their photo opps at the Falls. Just like Betsy and I.

On a warm day this place is jammed packed with people. I remember on such days when Betsy and I were going back down the trail and passed a group of what we assumed were U of A students. They were all in swim trunks, bikinis, flip-flops and carrying coolers. Oh, to be young again!

Here it is: "Seven Falls Beach".

Here Betsy starts her careful decent to the pools. And yes, she has dipped in them. No surprise there!

When we got down to the pools we crossed over and had snacks before heading back down the canyon.

The photo opp everyone comes up here for. The cloudiness made the picture a bit drear but it's still purty, don't cha think?

Time to get back on the train! All the way back we either passed or were being passed. Busy, busy, busy.

What a nice way to spend a day in January.

See you next time...
Mike and Betsy

~~~ BONUS Photo ~~~

May 2004

 

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