Day 3 of 2025 Thanksgiving Trip to Tucson, Mt Kimball via Finger Rock Canyon and Pima Canyon

The third day of my 2025 Thanksgiving Trip to Tucson. I climbed Mount Kimball in the Santa Catalina Mountains, traversing Finger Rock Canyon and Pima Canyon in what turned out to be a long and exhilarating day hike.

Santa Catalina Mountains

The Route

Just to the north of Tucson stood the Santa Catalina Mountains. Several canyons carved their way deep into the range, connected by trails that wound among peaks in the mountain’s interior. One such peak was Mt. Kimball, reachable via Finger Rock Canyon from the south or Pima Canyon from the southwest, a natural candidate for a point-to-point hike. With both trailheads located in residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tucson, finishing the traverse via rideshare was straightforward.

Given that Finger Rock Canyon Trailhead was 40m (130ft) higher in elevation than Pima Canyon Trailhead, and that Mount Kimball was about 2.8km (1.7mi) closer to the former, I decided to hike from Finger Rock Canyon toward Pima Canyon. This way, turning back to the Finger Rock trailhead remained a viable option if time ran short. Even so, the route (AllTrails link) stretched 18km with 1290m of elevation gain (12.2mi, 4230ft), and significant stretches involved terrain not straightforward to hike through, so this was still quite an endeavor. Yet the rewards were equally generous: sweeping saguaro fields and soaring canyon ridges made for scenery that more than justified the effort.

The Journey

Route through Santa Catalina Mountains

Three days later on my flight from Tucson to Phoenix, I inadvertently captured this photo where I traced the rough route for today’s hike, with Finger Rock Canyon on the right and Pima Canyon on the left. The two trailheads were outside the frame.

I made it to the Finger Rock Trailhead at 7:40am, which delightfully featured a water fountain. After some warmup, I started my hike at 7:50am. Here’s GPS tracking:

The trail wasted no time in winding through vast fields of saguaros, their towering forms bathed in the warm glow of the rising morning sun.

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Saguaros

 
Saguaro
This one had so many branches.

Saguaros

Saguaros

Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

Trail

Finger Rock Canyon took its name from a distinctive rock formation perched on a hillside overlooking the canyon, resembling a finger pointing upwards. This formation was visible since leaving the trailhead. Once the trail entered the canyon, it soon departed the canyon floor and began a steady climb upward.

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Finger Rock from Trailhead

Trail

Cliff along Finger Rock Canyon

Ridgeline above Canyon

Finger Rock Canyon

Cliff along Finger Rock Canyon

Finger Rock

Ridgeline to Finger Rock

As I soon discovered, the trails through both canyons proved to be anything but straightforward. They were frequently narrow and uneven, demanding attention with every step. Occasionally, the trail was on rocks that were still slick in places from a storm a few days earlier, requiring a measured and cautious footing.

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Mountains beyond Finger Rock Canyon

Trail on Rock Surfaces

Trail on Rock Surfaces

Mountains to the Southwest

Tucson Basin before Tucson Mountains, Coyote Mountains and Baboquivari Mountains in the background.

Clouds Rolling in over Tucson

 
Flowers along Trail

Despite it was late November, there was no shortage of flowers along the trail, owning to Tucson’s warm climate.

About 4km (2.5mi) into the hike, I paused briefly at the junction with the trail to Finger Guard. Pressing on, the rising sun began to illuminate the path, which wound occasionally beneath steep, eroded canyon walls. The eroded rock formations bore a faint resemblance to Chiricahua National Monument, which I had visited two days prior. On the other hand, the trail was also occasionally overgrown from that point forward.

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Gorp Peak

Gorp Peak

Rocks Wedged Together

Hoodoos on Hill

Hill Topped with Hoodoos

Hill Topped with Hoodoos

Hill Topped with Hoodoos

Further along, the hills flanking the trail grew shorter and more subdued. As I neared the summit of Mt. Kimball, the sense of being enclosed within a canyon gradually faded away.

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Prominent Point

Clouds Rolling into Finger Rock Canyon

Finger Rock Canyon

 
Trail

Trail
Mt Kimball in the background.

Mt Kimball Summit Overlook

After spending just under four hours on the trail, I reached the “summit” of Mt. Kimball at 11:45am. “Summit” was used loosely here, as the area was heavily wooded and remarkably flat. In its place was a rocky overlook offering roughly 180-degree views to the northeast, where mountains deep in the Santa Catalina Range unfolded before me as a harmonious blend of exposed boulders and low-lying shrubs.

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View to the North

Clouds over Ventana Canyon
And Mica Mountain and Rincon Peak in the background.

Window Rock

Cathedral Rock

Samaniego Peak

Mt Lemmon

Table Mountain

Despite its flatness, the summit of Mt. Kimball commanded an impressive prominence over the many hills to its north, which served as a fulfilling acknowledgement of the progress that I had made.

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Overlook on Mt Kimball

View to the Northwest

Oro Valley before Tortolita Mountains
A few exposed rocks on hills in the foreground.

Mountains to the West

Hill

Hill

Here’s a video from Mt Kimball: (please excuse the wind noise)

13 seconds, 2160p30fps, H265 only, 16Mbps/27MB file size.

As an added bonus, I had cellular coverage at the summit of Mt. Kimball, allowing me to share the moment with friends. All told, I spent 35 minutes on top before departing at 12:12pm. With more than five hours until sunset, I figured I had enough daylight remaining to descend via the longer Pima Canyon.

View from Mt Kimball Vista

The previous overlook on Mt Kimball only offered views only to the north. Departing it, I came across a small clearing along the trail that opened up to the south — but honestly, with the sun working against me, the sweeping views over the Tucson metropolis below were far less compelling.

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Tucson Basin to the South of Mt Kimball

Mt Wrightson to the South
Davis Monthan Air Force Base in the foreground.

Eastern Tucson Suburb and Mountains to the South

Downtown Tucson before Sierrita Mountains

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Finger Rock and Prominent Point
A rare sight from the north.

Mt Kimball from Trail

Table Mountain

Pusch Ridge

Continuing on, the trail wasn’t very remarkable scenery-wise, except for glimpses of Pusch Ridge (the ridge flanking the western side of Pima Canyon), until it entered Pima Canyon. But before that, there was one section that was on slick rocks near the spur to Pima Saddle (p5-6 below) that required some caution.

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Sparse Forest on Mt Kimball

Trail

 
Trail

Trail

 
Trail on Rocks

 
Trail on Rocks

Compared to Finger Rock Canyon, Pima Canyon felt more straightforward, especially when viewed from near its upper end. It’s like a visually impressive thoroughfare, cutting through layers of soaring peaks that lined its sides, showcasing endless prosperity along the way.

The trail itself crisscrossed Pima Wash numerous times — sometimes threading beneath dense canopies where the wash nourished lush pockets of trees, and other times climbing high above it, opening up to sweeping views down the length of the canyon.

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Pima Canyon

Upper Pima Canyon

 
Pima Wash

Hills along Pusch Ridge

 
Pima Wash in Canyon

Prominent Point over Pima Canyon

Trail

At around 1550m (5090ft) elevation, 6.8km (4.2mi) from the Pima Canyon Trailhead, I came upon a cluster of boulders that offered what I considered the finest vantage point within the canyon, as I found myself surrounded by a series of prominent peaks on all sides.

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Pima Canyon

Pima Canyon

Table Mountain

Upper Pima Canyon

Lone Tree in Field
The left half of this tree looked pretty dead, but the right half was full of life.

Hill

Hill

Continuing my descent, the trail wove back and forth across Pima Wash in a gentle, meandering interplay.

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Trail

Pima Canyon

Distant Rocks
Shaped like three figures.

Pima Wash

Pima Canyon

Pima Canyon

Boulders

Gully from Table Mountain

Honestly, the middle section of Pima Canyon was my least favorite stretch. The vegetation here was likely the densest along the entire canyon, making the trail frustratingly difficult to follow in places. Occasionally, I gave up trying to locate it altogether and opted instead to walk along the dry riverbed of Pima Wash (p4–6 below). Scaling up and down the boulders scattered across the riverbed was no joy, but at least it offered a wide, unambiguous path forward.

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Pima Canyon

Trail

Dry Riverbed of Pima Wash

Dry Riverbed of Pima Wash

Dry Riverbed of Pima Wash

Dry Riverbed of Pima Wash

Finally, as the trail conditions began to improve — whether because fields of saguaros had started to replace the dense shrubs, or because the canyon was opening up near its mouth, or simply because I had learned to consult my offline map more frequently — I found it increasingly easier to stay on course. With less attention devoted to navigation, more was directed to appreciating the scenery around me.

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Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

Saguaros along Trail

Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

Hillside Decorated with Saguaros

By the time I reached the mouth of Pima Canyon, the landscape started to resemble the mouth of Finger Rock Canyon, where I began this hike earlier in the morning: expansive fields of saguaros with luxury villas scattered among them. But the setting sun had transformed everything. The saguaro fields and the mountains were now bathed in a soft, warm layer of pink, and the vast Santa Cruz Basin, with the sprawling metropolis of Tucson spread across it, no longer felt harsh to look at.

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Giant Tree

Trees along Pima Wash

 
Saguaro
A few equally-tall branches surrounded a taller central one.

Hills at the end of Pima Canyon

Hill along Pima Canyon

Prominent Point and Finger Rock from Pima Canyon Trailhead

Trail

Mt Wrightson across Santa Cruz Basin

Villas among Saguaro Fields

In the end, I reached Pima Canyon Trailhead at 5:10pm, with minutes to spare before the official sunset. I had no difficulty hailing a rideshare to take me back to Finger Rock Canyon, where I was reunited with my car and concluded the day.
END

Day 3 of 2025 Thanksgiving Trip to Tucson, Mt Kimball via Finger Rock Canyon and Pima Canyon by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.