CA-AZ Trip, Day 5, Sabino & San Xavier

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Photos from this day in Sabino Canyon

Jakub's suggestion was to follow Yvonne's suggestion to visit Sabino Canyon near Saguaro NP East. This was one of the spots I researched and wanted to visit. There are trams that run about every 30 minutes up the 4-mile road with 9 stops along the way. Visitors can get on or off at any of those stops. We rode all the way to the top at stop #9. Here we found a trail leading down to Sabino Creek. What could go wrong --a nice path along the creek? Well, the decent was pleasant enough. Jakub spotted a red bird (sorry, you'll have to ask Jakub whether it was male or female, what was it's Latin name, was it indigenous, et cetera). At first everyone seemed to always be quite a bit ahead of me as I stopped here and there to enjoy the sounds, the smells and the photo ops. Eventually I caught up to Barb & Yvonne who found the perfect log under a cooling shade tree to solve the world’s problems. If only the world would listen... Jakub was just upstream from them shooting the sounds of rushing water. We bobbed in and out of each others way until there were no more problems to solve. Then we all headed to the path that would lead us downstream, climbing over boulders and around obstacles until there no longer was a path. We either had to climb around or walk and crawl along a steep rock embankment that threatened to send us on a slide ride into the shallow Sabino Creek below. We were too far to go back, but unsure of what obstacles lay beyond this one. Later Barb said she kept looking up to make sure the rescue helicopter could get to us. Apparently Jakub was oblivious to the danger dilemma because he was already somewhere downstream filling his memory card. The girls seemed safe and on their way, but I turned back to cross the creek a little ways back to capture some of the formations I could see on the other side. In the process a thorn somehow pierced my knee just under the knee pad I was wearing. I'm sure my fellow travelers heard the screech of my big-baby voice echoing down the canyon when I yanked it out.

Of course the grass wasn't greener on the other side, and, because the terrain got so treacherous, I had to cross back and forth several times just to make progress. Eventually I caught up to them again by photo 21, and there were still difficult spots where we had to cross back and forth. After a few hours of hiking and climbing we finally came to a cool little swimming hole where many were enjoying the natural waterslides carved into the banded granite. We could tell we were very close to a tram stop and guessed it must be only #6, which would have been a 30-minute walk had we stayed on the road. I rushed up the hill to the stop, turned and read the number. "Eight!!! We only went ONE stop." We waited for the tram and headed back to the beginning pleased with our journey and thanking our lucky stars.

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Photos from this day at Mission San Xavier del Bac

Same day, and another suggestion by Yvonne --again a must-see place for me, San Xavier's church built in the late 18th century. It promised to be a much easier walk than the creek side stroll down Sabino Canyon. Ben Prepelka of Scenic USA said we were lucky to see the White Dove of the Desert without scaffolding clinging to it. He’s also right about the magnificent job they do in maintaining the magic.

After we pulled into the dirt lot we decided to stroll around the shops and look for something to eat before heading to the church. Not finding what we wanted we decided to search for a nearby eatery, knowing that the church wasn’t going anywhere and the light, especially on the inside, would be the same or better after we were fed. Well, we may have been full when we entered the church, but there is immediately an incredible feeling of awe that envelopes you and fills your whole being with reverence when you enter the building. The awe is not just respect for the craftsmanship that created a church in this spiritual place, but for the worshipful ways that that craftsmanship represents humankind’s desire to please the Creator. On the other hand, if we spent as much time and effort on the way we treat each other, we might appear more pleasing.

In the first photo of the gallery you can see Yvonne way ahead of us. She was on a mission, and had no need to wait for us to decide which lens would be best. According to the time-stamp on the photos we were only there about an hour and a half, but the feeling, if not the photos, will last forever.

It was too late to get to any vantage point for a sunset, so we toured some of the downtown area before turning in for the night --our next to the last night in Tucson.

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