26dems Homepage
Tech Advisory: This web page is best viewed in Firefox, Safari, or Internet Explorer version 7 and newer. You may have to upgrade Adobe Flashplayer if you experience problems. Report any problem to the webmaster.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A 70-year-old gift we enjoy today

By David Safier, Special to The Explorer
Published:
March-11-2009
I had visitors from Portland last week, friends who were so ecstatic to swap the Pacific Northwest’s cold and wet for Tucson’s warm and dry, it was impossible to keep them indoors.

Their one demand was that we hike to their favorite Tucson destination, Seven Falls, in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area.

Whenever I take out-of-towners into the Sonoran Desert, I begin seeing it through their eyes. I relived the first few times I walked the Bear Canyon Trail, peering upward at the steep walls of the Catalina Mountains, listening to the stream rippling at my feet and the bird calls coming from every direction, then reaching the turn in the trail where I first caught a glimpse of the falls, the water dropping in stages until it pools at the bottom and forms the stream I crossed again and again to reach that spot.

The Sabino Canyon area is a free gift that keeps on giving, bringing new pleasure every time I visit.
* * * * * *
As I suspected, the Sabino Canyon area and much of the Coronado National Forest was preserved and made accessible to the public through projects created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Depression.

Read More
Write a Letter to the Editor