This is the entrance to “ski valley” as they call it. You can snow ski in the winter when there is sufficient snow, see the lifts going up the hill in the background.
Beyond the closed gate is Steward Observatory, run by the U of A. Elevation here is 9100′ (2774m) There is a trail head parking lot just off to the left. This is up the road about a mile from the ski parking lot above.
This is an artsy shot of the Mt. Lemmon (Summerhaven) community center which I just happen to like. I’m not sure if they can ever fill it up, or make it a bustling center of community activity, as there are only a few full time residents of Summerhaven. I guess they can always play Bingo.
This here critter is a Desert short-horned lizard. A frightening creature, but was very cooperative during the photo shoot. This was taken at 35mm, which gives an anemic maximum magnification with this lens, but it turned in a very sharp photo! This is a crop (and resize) of about a quarter of the original image. The critter was about 3″ (75mm) long.
View is from Windy point vista, about half way up the mountain. Tucson is in the valley below.
I didn’t like the way this looked originally, so I turned it into another artsy shot with levels adjustments. It’s a bunch of dead branches.
Here’s an oak tree just starting to turn.
Now we’re on the Marshall gulch trail, which starts out at the very end of the Catalina highway at the bottom of Summerhaven. If you go to this trail-head and want to see some fall color, don’t take the “Aspen trial” also located here, or you won’t see any color at all. There are no Aspen along that trail anymore. Both trails start out a few feet apart then go in opposite directions, then come back around and meet a couple of miles in.
Another scene not far from the picture above.
A nice Maple at peak color, not too much red in these mountains, just small bunches like in the previous image. That’s it for the very short tour, and about all the color you get around Tucson, AZ.