A Saturday Excursion

 My big weekend is over and I am basking in the memory of a lovely day spent picnicking on MT. Lemmon with my son, Mark, my daughter Gail, and two dogs.  On the way down I took pictures from the moving truck with  a dirty windshield.  


Start with our picnic spot and continue with me from the tall pines down to the Saguaros at the foot of the mountain. 

 

I think this looks like a profile of an ancient king.  Or perhaps you will see a cartoon animal.

 

If you look closely you can see 3 parts of the highway as it curves around the mountain.

 

Notice the strata of the geologic layering

 

These rock climbers are nuts.

 The following is copied from Wikipedia.

Mount Lemmon is the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains, located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. It is 9,157 feet (2,791 m) above sea-level, and receives approximately 180 inches of snow annually. Mount Lemmon was named in honor of botanist Sarah Lemmon, who trekked to the top of the mountain with Native American guides by mule and foot in 1881.^{[citation needed]}

Summerhaven

Summerhaven is a small town near the top of the mountain. It is a summer residence for many but there are some year round residents. There are many small cabins most of which are being rebuilt after the Aspen Fire of July 2003, and recovery is still taking place.^{[clarification needed]} It is near Ski Valley which is the southernmost ski destination in the continental United States.

Mount Lemmon Station Observatory

View of the telescopes on Mount Lemmon

At the peak of Mount Lemmon is an astronomical observatory, which was formerly the site of an USAF radar base of the Air Defense Command^{[citation needed]}, and the building that formerly housed a military emergency radar tracking station for landing the Space Shuttle at White Sands Missile Range. Although the United States military had a presence on the mountain for several decades all their facilities have been abandoned and were given to the United States Forest Service. The area and buildings that makes up the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory are leased from the Forest Service by the University of Arizona. The telescopes on the mountain are still used for astronomical research today by organizations such as the Catalina Sky Survey, and The [Mount Lemmon Sky Center], The University of Arizona Astronomy Camp program,^[2] the University of Arizona, and the University of Minnesota. The educational resources at the top of the mountain make it a unique research and teaching destination.

Windy Point

The location 'Windy Point' was built by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, using a large number of prisoners over a period of 18 years, and is a popular place for outdoor weddings.^{[citation needed]}

Catalina Highway

Catalina Highway climbing Mount Lemmon