Cienega Creek

The Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead Parking Lot has room for only ten cars, so carpooling from Fry’s is a good idea.  There is one portable toilet in the lot.  We will walk north along Davidson Canyon for about 0.4 miles to Cienega Creek, then walk upstream, mostly east.  The walking is not too difficult and will crisscross the stream on some primitive trails, occasionally through bushes.  Long pants and good hiking shoes are recommended. We will spend the majority of our time walking in the canyon away from our vehicles, so be prepared to carry a lunch and enough water for about four hours.

We have a special permit from Pima County to explore this wild and beautiful stream!  The cool clear water is home for the water plant nitella and filamentous green algae and three species of native fishes as well as Sonoran Mud Turtles and leopard frogs.  You can dress up your sandwich with peppery watercress that grows in the shallow water.  The perfect star shaped purple-pink flowers on the dry banks of the stream are Buckley’s Centaury.  Bird songs echo through the high canopy of trees and the canyon walls, but it may be difficult to find their source.  The Southwest Willow Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo and Yellow Cuckoo are hard to see, but the larger Gray Hawks stand out in the branches.  Butterflies are scarce after our dry winter and spring, but there might be some Viceroys, Mourning Cloaks, Red-spotted Purples, Dainty Sulfurs and Tailed Orange if we are lucky.  In Cienega Creek the water is above ground and shaded by huge cottonwood, willow, and ash trees, but as the water flows west the bedrock is deeper and the stream is mostly hidden under the sand as it becomes the Pantano Wash, the Rillito River, Santa Cruz River, Gila River, and through the Colorado River enters the Sea of Cortez.

Type of terrain: Walking will be along the stream bed and on some primitive trails. There will be some bushwhacking and stepping up and down sandy banks and rocks.

Photo: Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) puddle party