Seven Cataracts Canyoneering Adventure

A view from seven cataracts vista

This is a canyoneering adventure. You will need rappelling equipment and a rope to complete the journey. My friend and I did this in September. The weather was great for our trip but I recommend doing this canyon when there is a lot of water flowing through the canyon. I This is a view of the canyon from Seven Cataracts vista. As you are driving up Mt. Lemmon Seven Cataracts vista will be on your left about mile marker 9. It is good to leave a car here and take another car up to Windy Point. My friend and I took one car to Windy Point and hitchhiked back up which is possible as well. Windy point, about mile marker 14, is the beginning of the journey and is labeled in green. The red line is the approximate path down the canyon.

The Start



This is Carrie and myself at Windy Point. Windy Point is about mile marker 14 and the beginning of the hike. From Windy Point follow the path past the bathrooms on the left side of the road. Once past the bathrooms start to head right. You will need to bushwhack your way into the canyon but if you continue heading right, there is no way you can miss it. The following picture is Carrie fighting with the bushes on the way into the canyon.



Into The Canyon

I was relieved to step into the canyon because I knew the bushwacking was over. The downhill bushwacking can be intense but it is not long I think Carrie and I made it from trail to canyon floor in 20 minutes. From here the route finding should be pretty easy, just follow the canyon. We brought a 60 meter rope and needed to do a total of 6 rappels down 4 drop offs. All the webbing and rap rings appear in good condition. If you brought your own, you would need enough for 6 rappel stations.



This is a picture of me being happy I made it into the canyon.



This is Carrie at the first rappel station.



This is looking down the first rappel. After you reach the bottom, cross the stream using the log in the picture. The second rappel station is just on the other side.



This is the fourth rappel.



The fifth and very short rappel. If you have a 70 meter rope, then you do not need to use this rappel station as you will reach the ground from the fourth rappel. There was a tree slung with webbing and set up with rap rings.



This is a frog.



This is Carrie pulling the rope from the last rappel. With a 60 meter rope this is the ledge we got of the rappel on. From this ledge you can jump into the water, or scramble over some rocks to the ground. We chose to scramble over the rocks and save our lunches from being soaked.



This is the final pool after the last rappel. I was really excited to find a rope swing in Tucson. From this pool there will be a path leading back to Seven Cataracts Vista. You are able to see the parking pullout from here; so finding your way back shouldn't prove too difficult