Apr 27 Skyway Island Scenic Byway up to Mt. Lemmon in Tucson

    Mt. Lemmon is a ski resort in the Corronado National Forest.  And, yes, our Senior Pass enabled us to get in free.  Brochures tout this byway as being like driving from Mexico to Canada because you start in Tucson, which has an altitude of 2,389', traveling to 4000' altitude with saguaros peppering all the mountainsides.  They immediately stop growing at that elevation.

We didn't get a good picture of them covering whole hillsides

     There were a number of campgrounds, with some not being open yet.  We didn't drive into any, but I saw two large fifthwheels through the trees in one.

The rock wall had beautiful rocks of so many colors-wish we'd taken a picture from the front.  The high rocks reminded me of those you'd put in the bottom of an aquarium.

The tiny peak straight out is called Thimble Peak.  Mt. Lemmon is the same general direction from Tucson as Sabino Canyon where we traveled last week.  We could see this peak from there, too.

There are many switchbacks on the way to the top - see the road below the high rocks on top.

Several people were looking at the ropes that were attached to the top of the rock, but no one was climbing when we saw them on the drive up and they were gone when we came down.

 

Window rock

Tucson, mountains and the horizon

 By the time you reach the pinnacle altitude of 8,000' you are in pine, fir and spruce trees.  A few miles past the 8,000' point you reach Summerhaven Ski Area at 7,840'.  The one-way trip is over 30 miles. 
    I decided to look up more elevations which should be of interest to many of you reading thise.  Pasco's is 387' and Phoenix' is 1211'.  Because Tucson is twice the altitude of Phoenix it often has cooler temperatures.
    We saw about 50 bikers on a Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.  There were no cars parked at the bottom so they obviously continued riding home or to one of the strip malls where they had parked (supposition).
    At the bottom of the byway it was 73 degrees, then we noticed 61 and then 55 at the top.  It was 77 when we returned to the bottom.
    We saw "bear crossings for 8 miles" signs, but no bears.  A large bird of prey must have just snatched a rabbit into its talons as we rounded a corner and saw it start flying.  There were various deer crossing signs, but no signs of them either.  One placard at a stop said "there's copper and gold in them thar hills."
    As we approached the byway there were some beautiful homes.  The ski resort has nice ones, too, with many being log.  38 people live year-round on the mountain, including the current number of 8 school aged kids who get bussed down on school days.  I'm sure it could be treacherous during many of the winter weeks.  With that few they probably use a van of some kind.
    Part of the mountain experienced a fire in 2008, and some barren trees were still visible today.