Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Mount Lemmon - 282 miles

The weather dictated that we move our normal ride from Wednesday to Tuesday to take advantage of the calm skies and high heat (90+). High winds and cooler temps are called for tomorrow.

One of the rides we've been putting off until it warmed up is the ride to Mount Lemmon, located just northeast of Tucson and home to the Mt. Lemmon Ski Area. At 9,157 feet it isn't a terribly tall mountain to those of us used to the Cascades, Olympics and Rockies, but there was still patches of snow on the ground.

The worst part of the ride is the 105 miles of straight, flat, two-lane, 65 mph hiway between Apache Junction and Tucson. At least it isn't I-10.

The road up Mount Lemon is maintained by the U.S. Forrest Service and as such, the posted speed limit is 35 mph and there is no passing all the way up. There are, however, plenty of pull-outs and look-outs and rest areas. The speed limit frustrates a lot of people (even me - I like curves), but if they'd just take a deep breath and enjoy the view instead of hurrying to the top so they can turn around and hurry down, the trip would be better for everyone.

There were only three of us today - Dave, Jerry and myself - and next week it will be just Dave and I. Three more of my neighbors pulled out this morning.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good ride from the sounds of it.

When do you plan to pull out and head to different environments?

Scott said...

Middle of May. I might follow Dave and Paige to Monument Valley, then go east to Nebraska, north to Dakotas, west to Thorp.

Anonymous said...

Nebraska!!!!!!! Did you forget and leave something in Nebraska, that you need to retrieve.

Just kidding it isn't that bad of a state.

CiaoBella! said...

Really windy here and dust tomorrow with the possibility of rain.

Glad you rode today!

Scott said...

My grandmother grew up in Rulo, Nebraska. Gram always talked about eating catfish from the river. Something I always thought I wanted to do.

Anonymous said...

Visiting your grandmothers town in Nebraska is an excellent reason to go. Hopefully the catfish are still there and biting. Big Lake State Park nearby in Missouri looks interesting as well.