Box Camp Trail #22

Box Camp Trail provides some of the most dramatic views of any trail in the Santa Catalinas. It is also steep and rocky, and, as you might expect, the most rugged sections also offer the best views. Extending between the Catalina Highway in the vicinity of Spencer Campground and the East Fork Trail in the Sabino Basin, during summer most people hike from the top down. During the winter, use increases on the lower (warmer) end of the trail.

Starting from the top, the trail moves through large ponderosa pines before dropping suddenly into the Sabino Basin below. (If you would like to take an interesting side trip, Box Spring Trail #224A leads 0.9 mile to a perennial spring.) The trail cuts through brittle rock littered with rubble, and in some places the trail can be hard to find. When you come to where the grass begins and the Manzanita brush ends, you will find a natural vista with numerous user paths that dead end at various view points of Sabino Basin and Palisade Canyon. Expect to look hard for the correct route down to the Sabino Basin. The correct trail route veers to the west squeezing you through a couple large boulders and down a couple tight switchbacks. A review of your map and compass direction may be needed at this time. Also, look for rock cairns to follow.

If you hike this trail in the fall; look back to Mount Lemmon from Sabino Basin to see the turning golden aspen leaves.

Historically, before construction of the Catalina Highway, this trail was the quickest access route to Soldier Camp -- if you could ever call this quick.