7 March 2015 Hoodoo
You Love….
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| From Windy Point looking south. |
Sometimes getting into the car and driving for 30 miles ends
up at Costco. The biggest drama is at the till – as in will we be under or over
400 bucks this time? Rarely do we get the chance to leave home and drive up
over 8,000 feet of elevation in an hour (8,237’ to be exact but then who was
counting?).
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| Just coming off the desert floor. |
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| Seems this is the perfect environment for these guys. |
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| The hills are thick with saguaros. |
The Catalina takes you into the Coronado Forest
which varies from densely packed Saguaros near the desert floor all the way up
to familiar conifers. It’s likened to driving from Mexico
to Canada.
We’ve done both and this trip did not cause my butt to fall asleep 12 times so
I think I like it best.
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| We're going to the top of the left side. |
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| Not an illusion - that outcrop is over the roadway |
Norene was very well behaved on the trip so she was allowed
to go rock climbing at Windy Point – about ½ way up the hill (in elevation).
This is what she looked like approaching the end of the Point:
And at the end:
And this is what she saw when she turned around:
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| There is a climber setting up on the top of that table rock. |
You will be traveling pretty slow on this highway (35 mph
limit). Or you could go real fast, miss a corner and discover what “terminal
velocity” feels like for a few seconds.
The Highway is littered with climbing cyclists – we were
both terribly unhappy that our collapsible bikes appear clearly unsuited to
this task. We did have a plan that would allow one of us to ride down but it failed since we couldn’t
agree on who would be driving the car back.
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| More hoodoos |
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| At 7,000' conifers reign. |
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| Near the top - no snow so far. |
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| And no more driving, sledding, snow play, outlet, parking or elevation gain |
Idiot flatlanders do not check weather conditions at the top
of Mount Lemmon – they just hop in the car and
note that Smiley has 4 wheel drive. Fortunately for us the mountaintop is
missing about 12’ of snow this year. Not good for skiers (this is the most
southerly ski destination in the continental US). Summerhaven – a little
village near the summit appeared virtually deserted.
Most of the campgrounds were closed in spite of the temps in
the 70’s at 8000’. Had to check our watches (that little date window thingie)
and remind ourselves this was not an Ontario
summer – still the dead of winter in most parts.
This was fun (yes kids – old people still have fun even if we're can't text while driving) and a
great way to make a short trip really count. Cheaper than Costco (actually no
charge) and less tiring that traveling 1500 miles from Canada to Mexico. And absolutely no part of
your body will fall asleep on a highway full of hairpin turns and terminal
velocity opportunities.
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| Looking down on Tuscon in the valley |
