November 20, 2020 - The Drive to Mount Lemmon
Today we drove the scenic byway to the top of Mount Lemmon. Surprisingly, the Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway is Trip Advisor's number two thing to do in the Tucson area (the Desert Museum is number one).
Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of 9,159 feet (2,792 m), is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. It is located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson. Mount Lemmon was named for botanist Sara Plummer Lemmon, who trekked to the top of the mountain with her husband and E. O. Stratton, a local rancher, by horse and foot in 1881.
We pulled off at the Molino Canyon Vista and hiked around a little bit.
Looking back at the parking lot.
At right center, the road leads up the mountain.
You can walk out a rocky promentory at Windy Point Vista. We did and are now looking back at the parking area.
Out on the promontory.
A good look at the promontory from the parking lot.
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This high up we encounter evergreen trees.
This is the Mount Lemmon Ski Valley. You can see the ski lift in the break in the treeline just left of center. They get snow here; receiving approximately 180 inches of snow annually.
There is also a little town of Mount Lemmons. We stopped at the Mt. Lemmon General Store & Gift Shop; it's what you do in Mount Lemmon.
If we had stayed on the Ski Run Road a little further, we might have got a glimpse of the Mt. Lemmon peak, but we did not know at the time.
