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Memorial Day Hike Down Mt. Lemmon to Catalina State Park, Tucson, Arizona (Part 1)

Easy hiking at the top. Mt. Lemmon summit, Tucson, AZ There was snow cover on top; the Friday before Memorial Day, the road to Mt. Lemmon from Tucson has been closed because of snow for a time, and it still lingered at 9,250'. Five of us drove to the summit, and spent all day hiking down to Catalina State Park, 13 plus miles away, and a good mile and more down.

Arizona Trail The weather couldn't have been better, and we met only one hiker all day. He was coming up from the bottom, and had been hiking for two days.

The trail is part of the much longer Arizona Trail, a project that is still in process. Mt. Lemmon is located in the Santa Catalina mountains, the northern boundary of the basin that is Tucson proper. The 26 mile highway which connects Tucson with the community of Summerhaven on the top of Mr. Lemmon passes through every ecosystem you would encounter driving from northern Mexico to southern Canada.

Our hike would do just the reverse, and we were walking down the backside of the range, traveling north, and coming out on the Oracle Highway at the Catalina State Park. I'll tell you more in my next post; this one will be good for three or four posts this week. Stay tuned.

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.

Think of me as your local expert.

Posted by Mike Jones on 06/02/2008 12:18 AM

Comments (18)

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18 Comments on Memorial Day Hike Down Mt. Lemmon to Catalina State Park, Tucson, Arizona (Part 1)

I've missed your pearls of wisdom pop up on my blog roll Mike... It sounds like you guys had a great time!

06/02/2008 01:08 AM

by Fairbanks Real Estate Broker Jesse Clifton (Jesse & Kathy Clifton, REALTORS - 907.699.6024 - )

Thanks, Mike, enjoyed it. Looks like a really good time. Well, actually, it looks cold. And steep. And kinda bumpy. Actually, I kinda prefer watching other people do sports. I consider anything that involves anything other than strolling on a flat surface to be a sport.

Go Team! :)

06/02/2008 01:18 AM

by Virginia Hepp Mesquite NV REALTOR >> Mesquite Nevada Real Estate Agent (ERA Brokers Consolidated - Mesquite NV Homes)

Nice to see you this morning. Will be looking forward to the next installments about the adventure. I would love to hike in many places.... so long as I have a nice motor home to sleep in at night!

06/02/2008 03:57 AM

by Susie Blackmon-Maggie Valley Waynesville NC Realtor/RE Blogger/Photographer (COLDWELL BANKER Kasey & Associates)

Good Morning! 13 miles is a pretty good hike for one day! I look forward to your other posts about this. I love to hike!

06/02/2008 04:53 AM

by Linda Scanlan (A Fan of AR)

Glad to have you back Sir,

It looks like you had a good time and I look forward to hearing reading more. Have a wonderful week.

Don R.

06/02/2008 05:37 AM

by Don Rogers CRS, GRI, Broker/Sales Associate (RE/MAX Discover)

Looks like Great Times! I have to ask, is that a "Tilly" hat?

If it is you know what I mean....

Your friend in Charlottesville!

06/02/2008 06:07 AM

by Charles McDonald / Your Trusted Broker for Charlottesville Real Estate (RE/MAX Assured Properties)

Mike - Sounds like it was a fun day, can't wait to follow the rest of the hike.

06/02/2008 07:53 AM

by Jennifer Fivelsdal, Rhinebeck NY (Keller Williams Realty)

Mike~It's that time of year. Hiking and the Arizona Trail looks fantastic. I hope you are doing well and have a wonderful week.

06/02/2008 08:48 AM

by Julie Neerings~Lifting Hearts ♥ Building Dreams~Utah REALTOR® (Keller Williams Salt Lake City)

Mike - looks like a beautiful hike, and impressive - 13 miles!! Look forward to reading the sequels.

06/02/2008 09:36 AM

by Sharon Paxson (Prudential California Realty)

Sharon,

Thanks for commenting; I bit off more than I could easily chew, so to speak, but I'm glad we did the hike.

Julie,

Thanks. We'll do our best.

Jennifer,

It was all downhill after this. LOL

Charles,

Yes, that's a Tilley hat! Thanks for noticing. The hat I'm wearing, though, is a wool crushable western hat. I'm the guy in back.

Don,

You, too!

Linda,

We have a lot of hikers in the Rain!

Susie,

It's good to be back. More to follow.

Virginia,

It was cold at the top, but warmer as the day went on. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

Jesse,

Thanks for being the first to comment; see you soon.

Mike in Tucson

06/02/2008 10:49 AM

by Mike Jones (Tucson Mortgage Company, LLC)

Mike - sounds like you had an interesting Memorial Day! thanks for sharing!

06/02/2008 12:00 PM

by Bill & Barbara Jo - Florida Realty Professional - AHWD (Charles Rutenberg Realty)

Well...at least we know you made it back alive! Can't wait to hear about the "adventure"

06/02/2008 07:59 PM

by Joan Mirantz- Concord New Hampshire Realtor (Keeler Family Realtors)

Thanks for the info I don't think of snow when I think of Arizona looks like a nice adventure on Memorial day.

06/02/2008 08:55 PM

by Terry Westbrook ~ Realtor(R) Grand Rapids Mi Ada/Cascade Real Estate (Five Star Real Estate, LLC Grand Rapids , MI)

Mike, having lived in Colorado for 15 years I know that was quite a hike that you took.

06/02/2008 10:28 PM

by Marchel Peterson Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro ABR (Results Realty)

We had friends with a cabin on Mt. Lemon when I was in HS. Got to go up a lot for a couple of summers. I really enjoyed that. Also camped up there a lot in the 80's. The baby skunks were pretty friendly. It was so different back then. Now there is so much built up there now and Summerhaven is so different since they had to rebuild, it seems like a totally different place. I was up there a year ago May.

06/03/2008 09:27 AM

by Phoenix Arizona Real Estate ~ Doreen McPherson (Keller Williams Arizona Realty ~ Scottsdale ~ Tempe)

Pretty serious hike there, Mike. Thanks for sharing it. There's another beautiful section of the Arizona Trail that you can pick up just outside of Patagonia--I'll have to show it to you sometime!