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Mt Lemmon
Mt Lemmon is a 'sky island' that is 9157 feet high. From Tucson it's an hour's drive and it takes you from 110 degrees to 70 or 80 degrees in an hour. It's wonderful! In the summer it's jammed with people as it's Tucson's summer playground. We don't have a beach (just the sand) and this is where you go to keep from going crazy. This is part of the basin and range country that stretches across the southwest and up into Utah, Nevada and parts of California. The plants and animals have been separated so long that they have often evolved into different species. You start in desert and saguaro and are in pines before long with aspen and other deciduous trees in between. This is the best place to go for fall color around here. Mt Lemmon is the tallest mountain in the Catalina range which is on the north side of the Tucson basin. It's high enough that it usually gets snow in the winter and often has enough to actually ski. It's the southernmost ski slope in the United States. According to my son and my brother, the rock climbing is excellent and you often see climbers during the drive up. The road was built with prison labor in the early part of the century. Considering what the territorial prison at Yuma was like in the summer, it was probably better than sitting in 120 degree heat in their cells. ©Rachel Aschmann 2000. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. |