Hutch's Pools

Always on time, Wandrin Lloyd was waiting in the parking lot of Sabino Canyon, while Sue Bee Subaru ran late (Note to the Wise: Speedway Blvd is a misnomer). Everyone in our group had hiked the popular Seven Falls ad nauseam; it's notorious for nuts to butts stop-n-gawkers and people filled photos. Unless it's raining, "Trickling Falls" would be a more honest moniker. Acting on a serendipitous tip from two ladies Susan engaged on our Wasson Peak hike, we had our sights on Hutch's Pools... just shy of 10 miles round trip and beauteous!   

Bobbie and I got a late start in Sabino once before. That was about 25 years ago, and I believe it was on the Phone (or is it Power?) Line trail. That loop hike took longer than expected; we ended up catching the last shuttle by the skin of our teeth... sprinting down the last switchbacks; waving our arms; shouting, "WAIT." That shuttle was free.

The shuttle now costs a jaw-dropping eight bucks per ticket! Hmmm, we could do without shuttle service if we hiked Seven Trickles again. The words "Screw that!" were poised for launch from my thin, downturned turtle lips. "So much for going to El Charros for dinner, guys, were being robbed." Whadareyougoingtado?  

With hip, knee and heel smarting from a week's (month's?) worth of cumulative trail abuse, missing the last shuttle was not an option for the walking wounded... especially after a ten mile hike to Hutch's Pools and no matter how purdy. So late we were; tired and sore was I, we gave it a go. Who's idea was this, anyway?

We take water for granted in Colorado. It's everywhere... raging, gushing, babbling; volumes of ice cold, crystal clear, water. But I grew up here in southern Arizona, and some of the most imprinted and delightful memories are of stumbling across flowing water in the desert. Monsoon season was a favorite time. It was amazing... flash floods careening down arroyos... stopping traffic under night black clouds. It was always a social gathering, waiting on water to recede. Dad and Mom would talk to other stranded passengers while I waded in up to my ankles and threw rocks. In about ten or fifteen minutes water would peak, then quickly disappear. Thus, water is a big attraction down here... mostly due to it's scarcity. Gimping up the trail I said to no one in particular, "There better be water in Hutch's Pools or I'm going to demand a refund for the shuttle!" 

It reminded me of a Marty Robbins song that was popular when I was a wee Sonoran Desert lad, "Cool Water."  

Keep a movin' Dan

don't you listen to him Dan,

He's a devil not a man 

and he spreads the burning sand 

with water...

Oh Dan can you see 

that big green tree 

where the water's running free

And it's waiting there for you and me... 

water... 

cool, clear, water.

Turns out there was plenty of water in Hutch's Pools, and it was deep, too... enough to allow cliff diving from boulders. That would feel good on a hot summer day. We had the pools all to ourselves... and a nice quiet picnic. This hike gets a four point five out of five stars rating!!!

Sabino Visitor's Center

Maikel's Forest Gump look...

Above and below:  Grinding holes, left over from Indian days

And somehow, we ended up at El Charros after all...