Morning Mt. Lemmon Hike

It's been a while since I posted any activities, but we really haven't done anything out of the ordinary. But this morning we thought we would escape the heat and head up to Mt. Lemmon for a bit of exercise.

We started our hike at an elevation of 7,960 feet, hiked up to the ski area, then kept going. The temperature was probably high 60s, which felt great. This is a view on the way up looking east.

The wildflowers are quite plentiful and pretty in the high country.

The highest point (top of the mountain) was an elevation of 9,135, so we climbed a total of 1,175 feet in a little over 3 miles. Jim climbed the mountain like a mountain goat without even breathing hard. Now me, I struggled all the way up, but I did make it to the top. Here is a view of where we stopped for a snack.

Now it was quite easy going back down and it sure didn't take as long. When we got to the ski area again, the ski lift was operating, so we hopped on for an easy ride up to the top of the mountain - again. That sure was a lot easier and nicer way to get up there - but where is the fun in not struggling?

When we got back up to the top, we stopped for a bit of lunch while looking at this view. As you can see there is some new trees growing after the devastating fire of about 11-12 years ago.

After lunch, we hopped back onto the ski lift and headed back down the mountain. From the ski lift back to our vehicle this is what the path looked like. Everything is quite green and lush from all the rain.

We had a very nice workout (well more of a workout for me, for Jim it was a walk in the park) going about 6 1/2 miles. The weather was perfect, now back to Tucson and 100 degree weather.