Bulldog Canyon is a very popular destination for ATVing and dirt biking in Tonto National Forest. My friend Rita will often come here to ride her dirt bike!

The weekend of Rita’s birthday, my roommates and I all went home with her so we could take ~the Jetta~ and go hiking! Rita wanted to show us where she rides so she took us to Bulldog Canyon to hike the paths. We went in the afternoon, closer to the sunset, and we were able to see the landscape change colors as the sun went down.

You can make the hike as long as you’d like, there are over 14 miles worth of paths! We hiked about one or two miles in before deciding to head back since the sun was getting lower and we didn’t want to be completely lost in the dark or find any rattlesnakes.

Hiking through Bulldog Canyon is very relaxing. We went later in the day in February so it wasn’t too hot out – the weather was perfect. I wouldn’t recommend hiking here during the day in the summer because the trail doesn’t offer any shade. However, you can hike to the Salt River from the parking lot I tagged at the bottom of this post, and jumping in the Salt River after this hike would make it worth hiking in the summer!

Rita absolutely loves juice so it wasn’t surprising that she brought a whole gallon for the hike! We didn’t finish the whole bottle but it was very refreshing to have a sip after hiking for a little bit.

What is your favorite sunset hike? Let me know in the comments below!

Location

I don’t have the address of the parking lot, but these are the coordinates for it:
33.550915, -111.581645