Friday, June 4, 2021
Tucson: Saguaro National Park East and Mount Lemmon
This morning we drove from Superior to Tucson, making a couple of stops along the way. The Mammoth Miners Memorial commemorates the 55 miners who have died in local cooper mining accidents over the years. The life-size skeletons are made from old metal mining equipment.
Mammoth Miners Memorial
A spooky tribute
Biosphere 2 (the earth is Biosphere 1) was built 30 years ago to demonstrate the viability of a self-sustaining mission to outer space. In 1991, eight people entered the habitat for a two-year experiment during which there was to be no infusion of anything from the outside world. They weren't entirely successful, needing supplementation of oxygen, food, and more, but they did learn some things, including a hard lesson on group dynamics. By the time the experiment ended, the eight participants had split into two factions that didn't even speak to one another. You can tour the place for $25, but we didn't have $25 worth of interest.
"Bio-Dome" is a Pauly Shore movie
Biosphere 2 is a real thing!
Eventually we arrived at Saguaro National Park, which is divided into two districts, one to the west of Tucson and one to the east. We only had time for one, and Saguaro East was more convenient. We spent two hours driving the eight-mile-long Cactus Forest Loop. There are many types of cactus in the park besides saguaro as well.
Danger, clumsy cyclists ahead!
Purple cholla
Sonoran desert
Saguaros are found only in the Sonoran desert at elevations below 4,000 feet, in a small portion of the southwestern US and northern Mexico. They grow very slowly, only an inch or two during their first decade. It takes 70 years before they start to sprout their arm-like branches and 150 years to reach their full height of over 40 feet. A saguaro's average life span is 150-175 years, but some live to be over 200.
Saguaro National Park East
Saguaro at half its full height, 3 1/2 Toms tall
No cactus arms yet, so less than 70 years old
Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park
Tom's cousin Marie and her husband Diego live in Tuscon, and we'd arranged to meet up this afternoon and spend a few hours together. So at 3:00 we convened at a Walgreen's parking lot and all piled into Diego's truck for a scenic ride up Mount Lemmon, located north of the city in Coronado National Forest.
Ascending Mount Lemmon on the Sky Island Byway
A few hoodoos
Jana and Tom at Windy Point Vista
Tom and Marie hadn't seen each other in decades, so they had a lot to catch up on as we stopped at the many roadside vistas. There's quite a change of scenery along the way, with cactus at the base of the mountain, hoodoo formations in the middle, and a pine forest at the top.
The cousins Goetz together: Marie and Tom
High on Mount Lemmon
A mile above Tucson
The summit of Mount Lemmon is at 9,159 feet, the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The temperature dropped 30 degrees as we ascended from Tuscon's 2,400 feet to the road's high point at 8,200 feet.
Coming down the mountain
One last scenic stop
Back in Tucson, Diego dropped us at our car, and we all met back up a short time later at La Reforma Modern Mexican Restaurant for dinner and drinks. It was a fun visit!
Jana, Marie, Tom, and Diego
Lodging: Vagabond Inn, Green Valley, Arizona, just south of Tucson, where we slept in a king-sized bed for the first time since Vegas! We picked this particular hotel because it's very close to our first stop tomorrow...
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