Mt. Lemmon - Summerhaven: Stop #3 of 4

A day trip to Tucson is a good way to escape the Valley heat. Tucson is usually a little cooler than Phoenix. Add the 5,400 foot elevation at the top of Mt. Lemmon and temperatures are much cooler, up to 30 degrees. It was 100 degrees in Tucson when we started our drive, and a wonderful 73 degrees in Summerhaven, the town at the top of Mt. Lemmon. 

Yes, Mt. Lemmon is spelled with two m's. The mountain is named after a woman botanist who explored the mountain with her husband in the late 1880s. The local guide who hiked with them was very impressed by the woman's strength and determination. His reference to "her" mountain stuck and has remained Mt. Lemmon for over a hundred years.

The temperature and elevation change makes the hour-long Mt. Lemmon,

or Catalina Highway Scenic Drive, fascinating. The route is compared to driving from the lower Sonoran desert in Mexico to the Canadian forests as far as the scenery. We listened to a free Mt. Lemmon Science Tour produced by the University of Arizona and available through your phone's app store. The tour does a great job of combining scientific information with stories of interest about the area in a pleasant, easy-listening format. In addition, there are slides with more detailed information, like the image below. The University also operates a SkyCenter complete with telescopes. Great opportunity for star glazing.

Our photos of what those four different Life Zones look like when driving the mountain, starting with the Desert zone in the upper left corner and working clockwise in elevation. The Saguaros and other cacti speckle the landscape at the bottom. The Saguaro gradually disappear around 3,500 feet as the rocks increase and the grasses and shrubs take over. Around 8,000 feet, or mile marker 15, the hoodoos appear. There is a great pull-out at Hoodoo Vista to see several of them. The rocks change and the shrubs give way to trees, mainly Ponderosa Pines. Finally, near Summerhaven, the trees becoming tall, blocking out the sun as they stretch high. The curvy road looks like Oregon, northern Minnesota, or South Carolina with the massive trees lining the way.

That squiggly road in the upper right corner of the map above is the Catalina Scenic Drive. If you follow the red arrow and go straight, you will find Mt. Lemmon Cookie Cabin. It isn't what it sounds like. The Cookie Cabin is a very popular quick lunch spot with a simple menu offering pizza by the slice. Oh yes, they do have cookies too, huge cookies. Definitely shareable! Each time we have stopped here, there has been a long wait line. Today, we were able to walk up and order without a wait. Then we savored a quick picnic lunch on their patio enjoying the light breeze and cooler temperatures. Now that's what we needed.

After lunch, we retraced our path and took the yellow arrow turn toward the Mt Lemmon trailhead area.  This area is definitely in the forest level with towering trees lining the road. There is a ski area/chair lift, gift shop, restaurant and more in this area. Scenic hiking trails are plentiful. Check out Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley.  Definitely need to return and take time to explore. Maybe even stay overnight at the one of the lodges in Summerhaven and do some night sky telescope viewing.

The other last checklist item was to experiment with different ways to mount the camera to get road photos without interfering with driving. Still a couple set-up quirks to work out, like the reflection, but I'm able to turn on the phone, open the camera app by voice and start/stop photos or video with a quick tab on my watch. For scenic drives, this is an awesome way to capture memories without frequent stops yet in a safe manner. Hope you enjoy the short video clip below showing the changing scenery starting at the top of the mountain and driving down.

SOURCE:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrtirs_AfM