Ski Patrol

Leaving for El Paso
Next Up:  Alpine and Del Rios, TX  then Mercedes, Austin and Fredericksburg, TX


Hey all you folks in the arctic Midwest - stay warm and stay safe!

The Sky Island Scenic Byway to the top of Mt. Lemmon (just north of Tucson) was just delightful!  The temperature started at 65F.

The first part was the Sonoran Desert that we have seen so much of in the last few months.  At this point we were right around 3000' elevation.

Here are the rock formations.  More saguaros!

Lovely view of Tucson.

We saw a canyon at the Molina viewpoint.

There is the small stream that created the canyon.  Looks like the landscape is in the desert grasslands.  Now we were closer to 4000'.  Didn't seem like the temperature had changed too much.

Up we went into the chaparral landscape at 5000'.  The peak in the distance in known as Thimble Peak.  Starting to get cooler!

I turned around and saw these rocks.  So pretty agains the blue sky.

At the Manzanita viewpoint we saw hoodoos.  The trees show that we are in the woodland now at 6000' elevation.  Definitely needed to put my jacket on here.

Another view from Manzanita viewpoint.

We saw these rock fins that will eventually become hoodoos as we continued up the road.

We made it to the Pine forest at 7000'.

I'm on bear watch again!

And it's much cooler up here, but beautiful snow in the trees.

Turning left off of the mail road is Summerhaven, a town that is frequented in the summer by people from Tucson who are trying to beat the heat!  The homes through these trees are big and gorgeous.

Back on the main road we got to the ski hill.  I never thought we would see skiing while in Tucson.  The lifts were up and running.

Gotta have the ski patrol on duty!

And it was the end of the trail for us today, as the balance of the road was closed due to road conditions.  There was a big snow here over New Year's weekend and this part of the scenic byway had not been cleared yet.
But this was 8000' elevation and the mixed conifer forest, including aspen trees seen on the right below.  When we got out of the car it was 41F - over 20 degrees cooler than at the bottom of the mountain.

The day ended as wonderfully as it started.  We went to the home of Tom Aceto and his wife Nadine for dinner.  I know Tom from my days at Inland/Ispat/ ArcelorMittal Steel.  Tom's homemade pizza was delicious!

Tom and Nadine also shared a special wine from the Willamette Valley in Oregon bottled by a former  steel supplier that we both knew from years back.  Very nice.

Such a fun evening with friends.