Mount Lemmon is the tallest peak in the Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado National Forest. The road up Mount Lemmon is a very popular scenic ride and a popular cycling route for the truly hard core. Apparently a lot of professional cyclists come to train in the area. There’s about a 6000 foot elevation gain over about 25 miles and we saw quite a number of cyclists making the climb and even chatted with a couple at one of the overlooks. Here’s a couple of road shots.
The drive was just stunning and we stopped at many of the overlooks. Expansive views and the typical desert landscape at the lower elevations
The landscape changed as we climbed and started to look downright New Englandy.
But what the heck was this? We saw these mean signs at a couple of locations. I do not understand
The Grinch is clearly lurking around the Santa Catalina mountains! It was almost noon by the time we reached the top. We had a lovely little snack to keep us going at the Cookie House
We stopped at several overlooks on the way down. You just couldn’t pass them up.
We spent quite a bit longer than we expected at Mount Lemmon so our vaguely planned ride in the Madera Canyon was turned into a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant and a visit to Saguaro National Forest East. Saguaro was fantastic. They have a 9 mile one-way loop road that you can ride or drive. I’d read a bit too much about the number of bike accidents on that ride and didn’t like the look of this sign so we decided to drive this one as well. I think I heard Pearl crying a little but she would be crying a lot harder if this happened
Lots of cars but fantastic drive. The Saguaros grow to be very tall!
And we saw whole forests of them!
Took a walk on a nature trail at one of the overlooks
Back to the visitors center we got our National Parks Passports. Sort of like Pokemon for National Parks! You get a stamp cancellation (inkpad type thing) at each park you visit and can also use the book to collect all of the park stamps – a new sheet is issued every year. Not quite what we planned, but a great day out in the sunshine at National Forest. Keep it up alt-Park Service, we need you!