Early Aspen Colors on Mt. Lemmon (October 8, 2020) — Images by kenne
Most trails on Mt. Lemmon remain closed after the Bighorn fire, leaving many burn-scarred areas. As a result, photographing the fall colors will be limited to Summerhaven and Ski Valley.
“During World War II, a group of skiers made up of Lowell Thomas , a noted journalist and adventurer, a local forest ranger, and many Davis Monthan serviceman which included Thomas’ son, later a Governor of Alaska, and Art Devlin, a future Olympic ski jumper and Television commentator, formed the Saguaro Ski Club. The well-known cartoonist, Paul Webb, created a patch and membership certificates for the club showing a skier wrapped around a saguaro cactus.” Click here for more information.
We drive the twisting Catalina Highway leaving the desert for alpine forests on Mt. Lemmon — one hour away.
Today I guide hikers on the Aspen Draw trail among the tall trees next to the steep slopes of Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley — north America’s southernmost.
Wildflowers of the Sky Islands are in full bloom celebrating the summer monsoon rains below the towering conifers — temperate species of Apache pine and Chihuahuan pine.
Recent heavy rains have eroded the trail exposing trees roots not always easy to see in shadows on the trail — I reminded the hikers.
Moving with more speed on the downhill return careful of foot but not careful enough as I tripped over a root now shouldering the pain.
Friday morning, July 1st, a little before 8:00am we stood in the McDonald’s parking lot looking up at the dark clouds over the Santa Catalina mountains. This is our regular meeting place before driving the 25 miles up to Mt. Lemmon for the SCVN (Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists) summer guided hikes.
Only, this Friday morning there were just the three guides, Maribeth, Maureen and myself.
Others who may have been planning to hike on Mt. Lemmon, probably
took one look out the window deciding it was not a good day for hiking.
This Friday’s scheduled hike was to be a six mile hike starting at the Ski Valley parking lot, hiking a loop of Aspen Drew, Lemmon and Meadow trails starting at 9:00am.
After a brief discussion, we decided to cancel the hike. However, since all the SCVN summer hikes are posted in the Arizona Daily Star, as the lead guide, I would need to drive to Ski Valley letting those who may still be planning on hiking know that the hike had been cancelled.
As somewhat expected, the weather conditions got worse as I drove up Catalina Highway.
The conditions kept changing rapidly from mist, thick fog, to rain.
When I arrived at the Ski Valley parking lot, there were five vehicles with about twelve people preparing to hike. At closer look,
I didn’t recognize anyone, so I ask if they were there to do the SCVN led hike — no, they were members of the Southern Arizona Hiking Club. The conversation ended quickly as we were beginning to experience a heavy downpour.
The rain lasted long enough for the hiking club members to call off their hike. It didn’t help that the temperature was 55 wet degrees.
Ironically, the Southern Arizona Hiking Club had been planning on doing the same combination of trails as SCVN had scheduled.
Now that my task was completed, I started my drive back, stopping at the Summerhaven public restrooms.
I was hoping to get a cup of coffee in Summerhaven, but that would have to wait till getting back down the mountain.
In the summertime, the monsoon weather can change quickly, bringing plenty of lightening, wind, hail and rain.
For the return drive, the fog had lifted and the thick clouds had begun to breakup. Since I had plenty of time, what better used of it than to stop now and then takeing photos.
In the distance beyond the last ridge is the Tucson basin. Arriving home after 10:30am, I could see very dark clouds moving into the Tucson area. By mid-day we had received 1.8 inches of rain. What a great way to begin July and the monsoon season in the desert.
Images by kenne (Click on any of the images for larger view and slideshow.)
For you non-locals, Mt. Lemmon (9,157 ft.) is in the Santa Catalina Mountains, part of the Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona.
At this time all National Forest Services continue to be closed because of the government shut-down. However, access to Mt. Lemmon via the Catalina Highway is available since the highway is a county highway.
The Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists (SCVN) are part of the Forest Service and regularly provide educational programs, nature walks and hikes — the schedule is published on the SCVN website.Some of the SCVN members continue the hiking schedule (unofficially), recently hiking the Bear Wallow trail to take in the fall colors.
Parts of the trail goes through the area where the original Mt. Lemmon ski slope was located back in the 40’s and 50’s. Since part of SCVN mission to the public is to educate, Ricki Mensching shares the story of early skiing on Mt. Lemmon during the Bear Wallow hike this past Friday. Current skiing takes place each at winter at Ski Valley, the southernmost ski destination in the continental United States, and receives approximately 180 inches (4.6 m) of snow annually (Wikipedia).
Over night we received .6 inches of rain and Mount Lemmon another 10 inches of snow. The clouds block the mountain peaks above 5,000 feet, but the cooler temperatures brought snow down to the 3,500 foot level — my favorite way to see snow from the desert below. Last night’s rain brought the total rain fall for the year to 11.6 inches, a little below normal.
Tomorrow the Catalina Highway is expected to be open, as will as Ski Valley, which are normally closed on Tuesdays — wish my legs could take to the slopes.