Mt. Lemmon is the highpoint of the Santa Catalina Range north of Tucson. Although it rises nearly 7,000 feet above the desert valleys, the Catalina Highway winds nearly 27 miles up and into the range, ending at the Mt. Lemmon Ski Area just short of the summit. A non-county maintained road goes another couple of miles to a parking area and gate just below the very top, which is where the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory is located. The summit is full of buildings and has obviously been graded over the years; nevertheless, finding the "top" is still easy, assuming the gates into the complex are open. There are literally dozens of possible routes to attain Mt. Lemmon's summit. I have been to the top twice: in 1997 and again with my wife in 2004.

First Visit, July 1997: The plan for today was to hike out to Rice Peak and then to seek out the Pinal County highpoint liner on Rice Peak's northern slope. I chose to start this hike from the Catalina Highway, with the intent of bagging Mt. Lemmon later in the day after I had (presumably) successfully found the Pinal liner. I followed the Catalina Highway up into the range and turned off onto the Oracle Control Road just before the main highway splits (with one road going into Summerhaven and the other up to the ski area). Oracle Control Road is a four-wheel drive back road that eventually works its way down the range and into the community of Roacle, 29 miles later. It's rarely driven except in emergency situations or by the occasional four-whheler out for some fun. In my case, I just needed to drive it about 200 feet to a wide parking area, where a trailhead to the Arizona Trail/Oracle Ridge begins. According to a sign Rice Peak was 6 miles away.

I started down and did fine, coming to Dan Saddle after about an hour. I then followed some fainter trails, finally coming around a bend and seeing Rice Peak still a couple miles away. However, all was not well as I was low on water and it was a lot hotter than I had figured. Then, I took a pretty bad spill. Figuring luck was not on my side I decided to hike back out. The water situation was critical and I ran out still a couple miles short of my car. And, it was all up-hill. I finally egressed in a near stupor and as thirsty as I have ever been in my life. I had some water in my car - nice and hot from sitting in the sun. I swigged some, then drove into Summerhaven and rehydrated (and recovered) at a cafe in town. That was too close a call. Ever since then I have always carried way more water than I think I'll need. Lesson learned, you bet!

Afterwards I still had some time on my hands so I drove up to the ski area and bought a ticket up the ski lift. From there I walked about a half-mile on service roads up to the observatory complex. The gates were open and I walked in; a worker gave me 'permission', although (a) I don't think he had the authority and (b) I don't think he gave a rat's patootie if I was there or not. I walked up a road to the highest areas, and sought out the highpoint amid the low-cut grass and rocks near all the buildings. A woman came out of one building and asked what I was up to and she didn't seem to mind. After all that I went back to the ski lift, got back down to my car and was on my way.

Second visit, August 2004: Beth and I decided pretty much at the last moment to take advantage of a brief spell of good weather to head down to Tucson and make a go at the highpoint. We actually were here in early April, too, but a storm had come through and dropped a lot of snow. The drive up to the ski area was nice, but the snow had closed all routes to the summit. This time, the ugly humid weather that usually sits over Arizona in August had been pushed out for a few days by a high-pressure cell, and it was actually really nice for a few days - hot, but dry and clear, with no afternoon storms to bother us. So, with a weekend free, we just went for it. We left Chandler at about 7:30 a.m. and made the easy drive to Tucson, arriving about 9 a.m. We got supplies, gassed up, then worked our way east via Grant Avenue to Tanque Verde Road to the Catalina Highway.

The drive up is quite scenic. The first few miles features thick saguaro cactus with ocotillo, palo verde and mesquite brush. Then the desert brush gives way to grasses and juniper. Evidence of the Bullock Fire is seen herein. We paid our $5 fee at the kiosk, then came to where the road is under construction. A flood in about 1999 or 2000 wiped out whole sections of the Catalina Highway, stranding people up high and forcing them to descend via the Oracle Control Road. The construction delayed us some, and we arrived in Summerhaven around 11 a.m. to start our hike, intending to hike up the Marshall Gulch Trail.

The whole upper summit areas of Mt. Lemmon have been ravaged by two massive fires in the last two years: the Bullock Fire of 2002 and the Aspen Fire of 2003. The Aspen Fire completely burned through the town of Summerhaven, and got to within literally feet of both the ski area and the observatory. Most of the trails have been closed since 2003 and were only reopened in late July, 2004. The Marshall Gulch Trail is a popular route to the top. At just over 6 miles round trip and about 1,700 feet of gain, it offers a good half-day hiking option for those (like me) who don't have the time for the 19-mile, 7,000-foot route from the bottom, or the interest in driving the road to near the very top. However, today the Marshall Gulch route was closed due to a search for a missing hiker (found alive after 6 days... very fortunate). We tried a couple other possible trails that come out of Summerhaven but they were closed. The whole town is being rebuilt. As of our visit the general store had re-opened and a few homes were near completion. Many others were in the early-mid stages of completion. However, many areas were still as they were at the end of the fire: utter devastation, just the foundations left. Very sad. We decided to drive to the ski area and go up from there.

We found a trail on the south side of the road, near the junction of a guardrail and the wood-post fence of the ski complex itself. This trailhead was not signed but I saw a couple hiking on it and they said it goes to the top. Beth and I started in on it a bit after 11 a.m. The trail descends about 60 feet to a drainage then ascends moderately via many switchbacks. It's steep in places, flat in others. Shortly it reaches the top of the ridge and the top of the ski-lift. Up to here the forest seemed to have been spared the worst of the fires, but once we surmounted the ridge the effects of the fires were very apparent. From here we followed the same set of back service roads I used in 1997 to the top. Again, the gates to the observatory were open, so we just walked in and walked the top area. No one was around and no one seemed to mind. The hike up covered about 2 miles and took us just under an hour.

We descended via the road, just to see what it looked like. We took a break for snacks along the way. The descent took maybe an hour - the whole round trip took us just over two hours. The weather was spectacular, and there were many hikers everywhere. We drove down the highway and got lunch at a Garcia's near the interstate, then drove home.