Another gorgeous sunny day today! A perfect day for a drive up Mt. Lemmon! This will be our third time up here...gotta show it to all the newbies :) We headed out shortly after 9:30 and had a fabulous drive up the mountain...I had forgotten how beautiful it is!
We stopped at all of the viewpoints along the way to take a look.
Frog Mountain
The name "Babad Do'ag" is Tohono O'odham for "frog mountain." From the Tucson valley, the Santa Catalinas look like a giant sleeping frog. Tohono O'odham pronounce the word "bah-bahd-do-ahg."
The word Tucson also comes from the Tohono O'odham lanuguage: it roughly translates to "at the foot of the black hill."
Looks like lots of nicely spaced properties below...
Molino Canyon Vista...
Lots of leaves on this Ocotillo...
Thimble Peak Vista...
Thimble Peak
The distinctive landform you see from here is Thimble Peak, which separates the Bear Canyon watershed (below you) from the Sabino Canyon watershed (behind and to the right of Thimble Peak). Resembling a giant sewing thimble. Thimble Peak has an elevation of 5,031 feet and is composed of gneiss....
Windy Point Vista up there...
We know what you're thinking...LOL!
The road above...
Approaching Windy Point Vista...
Border Patrol agents practising...
Distant view of their practice area. As luck would have it they have been here every time we've been here...
What a view!
Of course, a group selfie...
The road below...
Dave and Leslie...
Steve walked to the point...
Looking back...
This was as far as Steve could safely go...
I sat and watched as the others ventured further out...
You can see the road below...
A rear view of the Border Guards doing their thing...
One of the many hiking trails on the distant ridge. There are also quite a few campgrounds on the way up here...
At first glance we just thought the bark on this tree had a neat design then realized all the dark spots are carved into it...
The end of the line...Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley. We had planned on lunch at the Iron Door, across from the ski hill, but it is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays...
So we headed back down into the village of Summerhaven...
And lunch at the Sawmill Run Restaurant...
A table on the patio in the sunshine!
The drive up the mountain took us 3 hours with all of the stops. We enjoyed lunch and then started our trek back down the mountain, stopping at another couple of viewpoints on the other side of the highway...
That dark object way down below is a van, from it's rust colour it must have been there for years...
Back in the Oro Valley, we stopped at Fry's for a few groceries and Dave fuelled up with diesel. And when we got home, it was our turn to take our truck to Fry's to fuel up. It was about 6:30 when we finally got home.
We went over to Dave and Leslie's for a couple of drinks and snacks...great guacamole, Leslie! The end to another fabulous day!
The name "Babad Do'ag" is Tohono O'odham for "frog mountain." From the Tucson valley, the Santa Catalinas look like a giant sleeping frog. Tohono O'odham pronounce the word "bah-bahd-do-ahg."
Thimble Peak
Thanks for the tour... it is one of the places we have yet to go. Maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a "must see"!!
DeleteI highly doubt we would have taken that drive without our excellent tour guides! A ski hill near Tucson?? I would never have guessed that but there it was. Amazing views all the way up and down. Thanks you two :)
ReplyDeleteWe had no idea there was a ski hill either. Always a beautiful drive up there!
DeletePerfect timing for this blog. We'll be driving it this weekend. Looks like a great drive. We have not been able to do this one yet so looking forward to it! Is it too steep to take the rig up to those campgrounds?
ReplyDeleteWe wouldn’t tow our rig up there. With that being said we’ve never explored any of the campgrounds so have no idea if any are big rig friendly. You’ll love the drive and there are lots of hiking trails too.
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