Sometimes we hurry right past the good stuff.
This happens often on the Catalina Highway northeast of Tucson — where drivers fly by the Molino Canyon Vista point on a mad dash for the piney heights of Mount Lemmon.
If you can briefly postpone the pine-forest views, you might find Molino Canyon well worth a look.
"What a beautiful place — especially with all the water flowing by," said Tucsonan Mona Avitia, who stopped at the canyon overlook one day recently with her friend, José Varela.
Varela, a visitor from Iowa, found the rugged canyon landscape, tumbling watercourse and prickly vegetation a far cry from the cornfields of home.
"This is so different from what I'm used to," Varela said. "I love these mountains and canyons."
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The canyon vista point, about five miles up the Catalina Highway, has two short trails leading to overlook points.
One of the trails, with a concrete surface, is only 130 feet long and is wheelchair accessible. Grades on the trail are 8 percent or less.
A second trail, with an aggregate rock surface, is 350 feet long and includes some steps along the way.
Signs along the trails provide information on plants — including cholla and prickly pear cacti, ocotillo, oaks, Arizona rosewood and the Southwestern coral bean.
Some visitors, Avitia and Varela among them, proceed beyond the end of the shorter of the two trails to a series of rock slabs and boulders near the canyon stream.
This is a way to get an up-close look at the area's geologic splendor and flowing water — but it's also a time to exercise extreme caution and good judgment. The footing is potentially dangerous, the rocks can be slippery, and the stream plunges over steep drop-offs. If you're inexperienced or uncertain in such terrain, it's best to remain on the trails.
To reach the Molino Canyon Vista, take Tanque Verde Road to the Catalina Highway and follow the highway about four miles to the base of the mountains. Mile markers begin there. Watch for the vista parking lot on the right side of the road between Mileposts 4 and 5.
Next week: Escape to the mountains.
