Bouldering in Sabino Canyon

Hiked Sabino Canyon in Tucson, AZ with my family today. The location has been a popular attraction for over 100 years. As a natural oasis the canyon has a running creek for most of the year and it is a great place to hike. In the 1800's a 6.5 earth quake shook the area causing boulders to cascade down from the canyon walls into the creek bed. The road to the top of Sabino and several of the famous bridges over the creek were were badly damaged.

The canyon people had known was changed forever. There were now house sized boulders strewn all across the landscape. The best picnic spots were gone and the routes down the canyon by way of the creek had changed forever. In fact I think that the way down the creek not only changed but became more difficult. 100+ years later on a bright 80 degree day my son and I decided to boulder our way down the creek to challenge ourselves to find the path and see what we could see. 3+ miles, 2 toads, 10 geckos, 75+ fish and a slew of birds later we came out back on the road having successfully found a dry way down the creek jumping boulder to boulder not being able to imagine the creek any other way. Bouldering is what we wanted to do and it was awesome.

What caused devastation a century ago is considered normal now. The earthquake is still worth mentioning but it is simply a footnote to give the canyon context today. My son and I were better men having the canyon what it is. To boulder, we had to watch our feet, help each other, consider different routes, hit dead ends and back track and stop and see the wonders around us. As I said good night to my son his best memory of the day was "bouldering with you Dad." That was great.

We live in a world hit by an economic earthquake. The way through this canyon has changed and may have just got harder. Here's what I say, "Life finds a way and we should trust the process." In a 100 years this era will simply be a footnote to give the new world it helps create context. I am not going to be buried in the rubble, I'm already taking up a new way of thinking. I'm learning how to boulder. Maybe you should learn to boulder too.