Madera Canyon is in the Santa Rita Mountains, south of Tucson and close to Arizona’s border with Mexico. The mountains are called “sky islands” because they reach up from the desert, forming cooler, wetter habitats than the surrounding hot, dry desert. The canyon has a small creek running along the bottom from the melting snow.

The day we visited the weather was very cool. We were chilly starting out, even with our jackets. And we could see snow on the tops of the mountains.

This is the path up through the main part of the canyon

The creek

This spider had built a web less than half an inch above the water. It’s in the middle of its web. Sometimes a stick would float under the web and tear it, and the spider would have to do some repairs.

This is the path up to one of the saddles – it was narrower, rockier and much steeper. We didn’t make it quite all the way to the top.

View up the canyon

These are some of the wildflowers we saw along the path.

Pointleaf Manzanita (Arctostaphylos pungens)

Spanish Needles (Palafoxia arida)

Another view of the snow on the tops of the mountains

One of the interesting things we noticed was the difference between the north and south facing sides of the mountains. The north sides were darker and cooler, with snow as we got into the higher elevations. The south facing sides were hot and had big grassy areas that seemed a lot like midwestern prairies.

Snow on the path on the north facing side

Grassy slope on the south facing side

South facing slope in the foreground, with north facing slope beyond

Madera Canyon is a well-known destination for birders. We saw many birds – especially at the feeders around the cabins and guest houses at the foot of the trail. The most spectacular were Bridled Titmice, Painted Redstarts, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, and Acorn Woodpeckers.

This is a view from the top of the valley, looking down the canyon toward Green Valley.

Moon over Madera Canyon