4 classic Tucson hikes to burn off Thanksgiving feast

The many desert and mountain trails in the Tucson valley offers hikers an array of choices, challenges and sights.

It can be your penance for a Thanksgiving pig-out.

It can be a clever way to get holiday visitors out of the house for a few hours.

It can be a wondrous on-foot entree into the beauty of this place where we live.

There’s so much to like about taking a hike. And Thanksgiving weekend — with summer snuffed out and winter still in the wings — can be a perfect time to hike in the Sonoran Desert around Tucson.

Dozens of routes beckon. Today, to get you started, we’ll tell you about a few different trails to try. One is on the northwest side and quite easy — great for kids and inexperienced hikers. Another is on the southwest side and moderate. The third is in Saguaro National Park East and poses a challenging trek for those who tackle its entire distance.

Slather on the sunscreen. Grab your gear. Go.

Tale of the trail

The first thing to know is that the trail lives up to its name — which means “beautiful view” or “lovely vista” in Spanish.

Next thing: The trail, on the western edge of the Catalina Mountains, is an easygoing kind of route with only a bit of uphill here and there. It’s a good place for a family hike and people just getting the hang of hiking.

The Linda Vista Trail lends itself to short out-and-back jaunts on a main segment that’s a little more than a half-mile in length. Linking that segment with others — which range from about a third of a mile to 1.5 miles in length — allows hikers to concoct custom-designed loop routes with the help of a map posted at the trailhead.

Sights to see

Lush Sonoran Desert vegetation — everything from huge patches of prickly pear to tall saguaros stabbing at the sky — would be enough scenic bounty in its own right to recommend the trail.

Add the fact that it’s set against the backdrop of rugged Pusch Ridge and you’ve got a “don’t forget the camera” destination.

Try a trek in the hour or two before sunset to get the best of low-angled light painting the ridge in hues of gold.

Get to the trailhead

Take North Oracle Road to Linda Vista Boulevard in Oro Valley. Turn east on Linda Vista and drive 0.2 of a mile to a trailhead and parking area on the right.

Tale of the trail

The 5.4-mile route connects two trailheads in the rocky, cactus-studded Tucson Mountains west of the city.

Some hikers trek out and back from one of the trailheads. Others arrange a vehicle shuttle between trailheads to accommodate a one-way hike.

It’s a generally moderate ramble through a comely expanse of Tucson Mountain Park, but you’ll encounter some ups and downs along the way.

The route is named for David Yetman, an author, social scientist, environmentalist and former Pima County supervisor.

Sights to see

Cactus forests along some segments of the trail rival those in nearby Saguaro National Park West. Dense stands of saguaros on hillsides above the trail include plenty of shapely, gargantuan specimens.

The craggy ridges of the Tucson Mountains manage to make that little range, so near the city, seem somehow imposing, faintly remote, a bit mysterious.

Elsewhere — a little over a mile into the hike from the eastern trailhead — hikers pass a site known as the Stone House.

What was once a large home, with two fireplaces and big picture windows, is now a roofless ruin.

Author Betty Leavengood, in a book called the “Tucson Hiking Guide,” writes that the house was built in the 1930s by a onetime editor at the Arizona Daily Star.

Get to the trailhead

For the eastern trailhead, take West Speedway past the Speedway-Anklam Road intersection to Camino de Oeste. Turn left (south) on Camino de Oeste and drive 0.6 of a mile to a parking area at the trailhead.

For the western trailhead, go west on Speedway, which becomes Gates Pass Road. Cross the pass and drive nearly to the bottom of the mountain, where you’ll find a parking lot and trailhead on the left.

Here’s one way to work off some Thanksgiving feast calories while sharing a flash of desert color with your holiday visitors: Go for a hike on one of several trails near the creek in Sabino Canyon.

Trees there often show autumn hues of yellow and gold, and the leaves usually remain colorful into December.

“Velvet ashes light up Sabino Canyon in the fall when their leaves turn brilliant gold,” says David Lazaroff, author of “Sabino Canyon: The Life of a Southwestern Oasis” and other books.

Cottonwood and sycamore trees and some shrubby plants add their hues along the creek. The colorful deciduous trees stand out in contrast to the saguaro cacti, mesquite trees and other desert vegetation on slopes above the watercourse.