Mission San Xavier del Bac's grotto hill

Many visitors like to combine a tour of the two-century-old church with a walk around nearby Grotto Hill.

An easy quarter-mile path winds around the hill just east of the mission — affording an overview of the grounds and big vistas of the mountain ranges near Tucson.

The hill is named informally for a small religious shrine tucked into a rocky grotto on its flanks. The shrine is a place of quiet reflection and prayer for some who walk the trail.

Others stop to peer up at a cross atop the hill.

As you amble clockwise around the trail, you’ll see the mission and grounds, the Tucson Mountains, the Catalina Mountains, parts of the Rincon Mountains and Mount Wrightson. - Arizona Daily Star