Tanque Verde Falls

If you're passing

Is it plungeworthy?

—feet tall

A 3-tier tiered on Tanque Verde Creek.

Scale12/60

Documentation10/20

Character20/20

The details

Tiers: 3 drops
Type: Tiered
Watercourse: Tanque Verde Creek
Coordinates: 32.25431, -110.65641

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About Tanque Verde Falls

Tanque Verde Falls is a tiered in Arizona, on Tanque Verde Creek. The water falls in 3 distinct tiers.

Fed largely by snowmelt, it runs hardest in late spring and early summer and can thin to a trickle by late season.

Plungeworthy rates Tanque Verde Falls 4.2/10 — if you're passing. The score weighs its scale, how confidently it's mapped, and its character.

What you'll find

A chain of slickrock falls and pools in a desert canyon twenty minutes from Tucson — beautiful, swimmable, and statistically the most dangerous waterfall in Arizona: some thirty deaths from falls and flash floods, with storms miles upstream sending water down a dry canyon.

Getting there

Trailhead: Tanque Verde Falls Trailhead, Redington Road
Parking: Dirt lot
Road: Graded dirt Redington Road
Hike: 1.8 mi round trip, 400 ft of climb (moderate)
Heads up: Steep loose descent to the canyon floor, then boulder-hopping.

When to go

November through April is the sane season; monsoon months (July–September) are when the canyon kills. If clouds build anywhere upstream, leave.

Rules & fees

Fee / pass: None — Coronado NF day use
Hours: Day use (camping near the road banned through 2029)
Camping: Not here — a standing closure order covers the corridor
Warnings: Flash floods arrive without local rain. Treat the forecast as a wide-radius question.

Researched from Wikipedia — Tanque Verde Falls · USFS — camping closure. Conditions change — verify before you drive. Been to Tanque Verde Falls recently? Post a conditions report below.

Where it is

Before you go

The pin marks the feature, not a trailhead or a legal route in. Some sit on private land or need a real hike, and conditions change with season and rain. Check local access, don't trespass, and never enter water — hot or cold — where it isn't safe.