Sunday – January 29 – Today we went into Tucson and checked out Sabino Canyon and what a wonderful place. It is a national park and a recreation area with miles of hiking trails throughout the canyon. They also have a tram which goes almost 4 miles up the canyon with 9 stops and you can get off and on at any stop. We took the tram to the end then got off and walked back to stop 8 (on the road). It was a nice walk and all downhill so not too tough. There were lots of people hiking through the canyon, none of this tram stuff.

Throughout the area they had signs alerting people to be careful of mountain lions as they have been quite active in the area. The tram driver gives a running commentary on the way up of the canyon and said there were 6 different varieties of rattlesnakes, mountain lions, bears, tarantulas, etc. etc. in the canyon – do you think I’m going to walk far in there! The saguaro cacti in the canyon were wonderful and literally 1000’s of them. The driver also said that a saguaro with 6 arms, which would be a couple of hundred years old would weight about 6 tons as they are mainly water, and they also have a very shallow root system – the roots would only go down about 4 feet but they could spread out for 40 feet.

The cliff formations were fascinating and on the top of one of the clips is a formation called the Thimble. This can be seen from most of Tuscon and is a landmark for the area. All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon.