Three Mountains, Two Days: Day 2.5

After a battling the end-of-the-day rush hour in Tucson, we made our way to Mount Lemon. Several years ago Keith came to visit and we ventured up Mt. Lemon for some rock climbing in the snow. This was Mike's first time upward. It is a nice paved drive, with great views, but it tends to be a little on the over crowded side for my liking.

We made it to the top and briefly went through Summer Haven. Can we say over priced, over packed, vacation homes? Not worth it in my opinion. My mountain retreat will be secluded and private, thank-you-very-much.

We had heard that you can drive down the backside of Mount Lemon to Oracle. Unpaved glory. The sign said 29 miles to Oracle, 4WD needed. Sounded up our ally. 29 miles can't take that long....right?

It was much better than the paved portion, because we were the only ones on the road. We found several unimproved camping sites that may beckon to us this summer.

Right about now, the camera died. The sun was setting and it looked amazing. The next two pictures are phone pics, so sorry if the quality isn't quite there.

 Beyond my handsome husband's head is the road further down the mountain.

One last glimpse of the sunset.

We were exhausted at this point and the road just didn't want to end. During the decent we entered into ranch land complete with stupid calves trying to get run over. Finally we made it to pavement. Casa Grande HO!! I talked about nonsense the whole drive home to keep us both awake. Chick-fil-a in our bellies, a much needed shower and off to bed. All four of us slept like rocks.

The differences in the mountains we have seen the past two days is amazing. Mt. Graham: high altitudes, lake, huge evergreens, tight turns, low temperatures. The Chiricahua's: towering spires, sweeping turns, a geologists dream. Finally Mount Lemon: beautiful rock layers, grand views of Tucson, pretty trees, but touristy. We tend to be loners, we like to explore on our own. We don't care for traffic, rude people, or lines. Mount Lemon was disappointing because of how touristy it is. Coupled with the fact that until you hit the top of it, the terrain was extremely familiar to home. It was still a nice drive and a good way to end our mountain tour of southern Arizona.

Happy first Anniversary to us!