Hiking at Bear Canyon to See 7 Waterfalls

Yesterday a bunch of us took a hike up Bear Canyon. You took a tram up the mountain about 2 miles, then hiked 2 1/2 miles each way and took us about 2 hours each way. The path wasn't wide enough for 2 people to meet on it, and was a dirt/rock path along the side of a mountain. We crossed the "wash" (creek of water running down from the top of the mountains) 7 or 8 times. It was quite an experience. The kids did great - only had to carry Kylee a couple of times for a short distance because she was too tired. There were quite a few kids so I think they encouraged each other to keep going :) In places it was pretty steep climbing. Scott and I were pretty sore last night, and are still a little sore today, so it was pretty impressive that the kids made it.

The hike was worth it though - it was beautiful at the end. Its pretty neat to see that much water in the middle of the desert. When we got there, Kylee exclaimed "The ocean!!" :) They call it 7 Falls, but really it is one long falls, with seven levels where it drops. The water is ice cold (it snowed on Mount Lemmon about a week ago, so some of the water is coming from melting snow.) A couple of the kids went swimming, but the rest of us just waded. It was so cold it actually hurt if you got as deep as your knees. It was in the high 80's so it was a pretty hot day. We all got sunburned - well except Kylee - she got browner :)


The path








The falls - the pictures don't really show the height


Another level of the falls


One of the teenagers swam underneath and behind this falls


Playing in the water. At this point they both had their shoes wet trying to cool down in the washes on the way home.