View of the gully from the Phoneline Trail
Shuttle Stop 8 Gully is the obvious rocky gully that climbs the hillside on the west side of Sabino Canyon, starting by Shuttle Stop 8 – hence the name. The view of the gully from the Phoneline Trail is spectacular and it was this view that made me want to climb the gully, which I did on 3/24/25. Once at the top you have to decide how to come back down, and I chose to descend Sabino Ridge, the ridge next to Sabino Canyon. Here’s a map showing the route.
Start at the Sabino Canyon parking lot and walk up Sabino Canyon Road to Shuttle Stop 8, on the left. The stops are all signed and numbered.
At Shuttle Stop 8, cross the river and start climbing the obvious gully. The gully is a pretty steep climb, consisting of a reasonable amount of scrambling up rock slabs and steps (some of it class 3 or 4), and lots of steep grass intermixed with rocks. Higher up you sometimes have a choice on which way to go – stay right whenever it’s not obvious.
The climb ends up at a mini-summit with a decent sized cairn – see photo above, with the McFall Crags in the background.
From here head down Sabino Ridge, the ridge between Sabino Canyon (on your left) and Breakfast Canyon (on your right).
The descent is mainly pretty straightforward, apart from navigating around the big rocky tower. I went round to the right, hiking down a bit, up a bit, then down. I don’t know what the left side would be like.
At times you will come across trails and cairns, but they kept disappearing for me. Although the ridge goes mainly downhill, there are a few short uphills on it. I stayed on the crest of the ridge, even though sometimes there appeared to be no trail.
At times it’s difficult to know exactly which way to go, and it’s easy to miss the best way. So it’s worth using some phone app that shows you where you are and what the contour lines look like (I use Pocket Earth).
Finally, when you have almost reached the Rattlesnake Trail down below, the descent becomes much steeper. At this point Sabino Ridge is protected by a band of cliffs, so you need to be very careful. I avoided the cliffs by heading steeply down to the right. It wasn’t much fun, but was better than falling over a cliff 🤣. Finally you reach the Rattlesnake Trail where you turn left and head back to the Sabino Canyon Road.
Links and Other Clicks
If you liked this gully, you might try the Black Gate of Mordor.
Cycle Uphill 