Liz and I parted company at Javelina Rocks and made tentative plans for the following day to take a drive on the Sky Island Scenic Byway. Once she checked her schedule, it turned out we just couldn’t make it work, but I was determined to go anyhow. I’m SO glad I did!
I could have titled this post “From Saguaros To Snow in 25 Miles” because it would be a perfect description of this drive in late March.
Starting just outside of Tucson, the Sky Island Scenic Byway winds its way up Mount Lemmon, ending in the beautiful town of Summer Haven.
Looking out over the suburbs of Tucson, I could imagine Steve hard at work, but I soon left those thoughts behind as I started up Mount Lemmon. The drive begins with a vast saguaro forest…
As I entered the first scenic outlook, I was marveling at the wildflowers and cacti framing the views…
As I gained altitude, the cacti began lessening, but the wildflowers painted the hillsides in beautiful shades of orange and yellow…
At another scenic overlook, I found a trail leading to a small creek. I shouldn’t have been too surprised since the snow melt would need somewhere to go.
The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of bicycle traffic climbing the mountain. There were several groups of cyclists and quite a few individuals as well. I can tell you with certainty that I will stick to climbing the mountain in the Jeep!!!
The higher I climbed, the more boulder formations I began to see and the views became panoramic…
One rock formation in particular caught my attention. I imagined what the view would be like if I could climb it…
There is an app you can download and listen to as you ascend, but I didn’t find out about it until I stopped at the ranger station about half way up. It would have been interesting to listen to it explain the geography, flora and fauna.
At one of the overlooks, someone was kind enough to take my picture…
And I couldn’t help but taking pictures of the groups of people who had climbed some of the rocks to take selfies…
As I neared Summer Haven, I began to see patches of snow. After seeing cacti and wildflowers, to me, the snow seemed out of place…
Summer Haven is a cute town with a general store, resort lodges and, of course, restaurants. When I reached the end of the Sky Island Scenic Byway, it was time to reverse my course and head back down Mount Lemmon.
I stopped at the Inspiration Rock Picnic Area and found all kinds of cool/funky colored rocks. Many of them glistened in the sunshine. I tried to take pictures but they just didn’t do it justice.
I was cruising along at the posted speed limit of 35 mph when this bicycle passed me like I was parked…
I’m still going to go with “No thanks” on biking the mountain!
There are many area to pull off the road for pictures…
But sometimes there just isn’t and room and you have to be content with a “thru the windshield shot”
This is a one way record of my travels. As you can see, it only took me an hour on the way back down. I wish I had thought to record the entire trip since I was gone most of the day.
When I got back to Waldo, I texted Liz and thanked her again for the suggestion of driving the byway. With only another day or two in Tucson, we decided to meetup for lunch. She suggested her family’s favorite little Mexican restaurant with the promise of great food and a prickly pear margarita. I enjoyed meeting her daughter and seeing her and Lenny again!
And her suggestion to try the “Tucson Dog” was spot on!
With hugs all around, we parted ways with the hope of seeing each other down the road somewhere.
The rally had come to an end and it was time to start our way back east. The entire journey so far had been about reaching Tucson on March 18th, but now it became about meeting friends in Waco for the total eclipse on April 8th!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our time in Tucson and, maybe found something to add to your next trip though Arizona!
Coming Up…
Another National Park checked off the hit list!