AZ Missions

7 Falls in Bear Canyon

We are still in Tucson working and playing at Sabino Canyon. I've done several hikes in the Catalina mountains since my last post. The wild flowers are out now, not the greatest year for them, but there are some.

View of Cathedral Rock from
5.5 miles up Esperero trail

We had a road trip day last week and went down to Tumacacori, Tubac and San Xavier del Bac.

Tumacacori is a mission dating back to the 17th century. It is about 40 miles south of Tucson off of I-19. The National Park Service has done a great job with restoration making a visit very worthwhile. There is a lot of information off of this link: NPS - Tumacacori

Tumacacori

We stopped in Tubac, just about 3 miles north of Tumacacori, for lunch and to walk around.  Tubac is a community dating to 1752. It has changed a lot since we were last there 20+ years ago. There are lots of new buildings now housing shops and businesses. We did the Presidio tour for the first time. There was a lot of local and area history but no original or restored buildings. Here is a link to the town website: http://www.tubacarizona.com/

We also hadn't been to San Xavier del Bac for a very long time and the last time we were there we couldn't see much because of restoration work being done.  This is another mission dating back to 1783. We were very pleaseed to find it all open and very nicely restored. This is well worth a visit being only a few  miles south of Tucson. Here is a link to their site: San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac

San Xavier del Bac