On two Sundays this season, Tumacácori National Historical Park will offer hikers the opportunity to walk the four-mile stretch of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail between Tumacácori and Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, catching a free ride back to their starting point. Hikers can begin at either end of the trail. Between 8:00 a.m. and noon on Sunday, February 4 and Sunday, April 29, the park will provide a continuously running shuttle between the trailheads.
How many places can you visit three unique and groundbreaking park units in the course of a single stroll? The Anza Trail, part of our national trail system, stretches from the Mexican border in Nogales to San Francisco, California, commemorating the founding in 1776 of that city by Tubac Captain Juan Bautista de Anza and a group of settlers from what is now Sonora, Mexico. You will be following the first walkable portion of the national trail created in 1990, the stretch between Tumacácori and Tubac. The Tubac Presidio, the site of the first European settlement in Arizona and the first Spanish fort in the Santa Cruz Valley, was also the first park in the Arizona State Park system. Tumacácori, the first mission established in 1691 by Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in what is now Arizona, was also among the first park sites established by President Theodore Roosevelt as a National Monument, in 1908.
The four mile stretch of Anza Trail is mostly level and shady. Wear good walking shoes, dress for the weather, and carry water and snacks.
Read more about the Anza Trail here.
For more information on the hike or other park events and activities, call Tumacácori National Historical Park at 520-377-5060, or visit the park website, at nps.gov/tuma.