This last fall I took the Canyon Loop Trail at Catalina State Park for the very first time. It's a wonderful "family" hike and in our family, this includes our black lab, Dusty.
Since then I've been back with my husband and our son Jeff, as well as Dusty and Jeff's dog Buddy.
As I mentioned, this is a fun, easy to moderate hike that has a well-defined trail. Along the trail are many different desert plants, cholla, prickly pear, sahauro, and desert shrubs. The first half of the hike, you will have a constant view of rugged mountain ridges. The second half of the hike will drop you down and right along a wash/creek bed that you will cross four times. During the monsoon season (May- August) the wash will likely be full of water, so be careful when crossing. Also remember that this is the desert and with it comes desert critters (snakes, scorpions, etc.)
The first time I was there was around Thanksgiving and all the washes were dry. We returned just after Christmas and there had been a pretty good rain earlier in the week, so the washes were running, but it was easy to step across the washes using the tops of rocks.
Distance: 2.5 miles round trip
Elevation Gain: 200 ft
Hike Time: 1.0 to 1.5 hours (depending upon the number of pictures you decide to snap)
Difficulty: Easy - Moderate
Trail Condition: Well maintained trail
HikeType: Loop
Informative post. Where did you get the trail profile?
ReplyDeleteI have topographical ("topo") software for Arizona that lets me highlight a trail that I've taken or plan to take in the future. I can then see the exact distance as well as the elevation profile (the "ups and downs") which combined give me an idea just how tough that trail will be. This is the profile as provided by the software TOPO!.
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