johnlt Posted October 20, 2008 Share Posted October 20, 2008 One of the best short rides in southern Arizona is the ride up Mount Lemmon. The mountain starts at the city limits of Tucson and it is about 30 miles one way for a nice 60 mile round trip. Actually, it is only ~5 miles “as the crow flies” from Tucson to the top. You have a wonderful paved road with many twisties that rises through the desert into a ponderosa pine and aspen wonderland including a ski slope with chair lift. . It is truly hard to believe this is all in southern Arizona within 70 miles of the Mexican border. Take a look: Our Mount Lemmon Ski area: And the top (as far as the road goes). Link to comment
Whip Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Looks like some fun roads!!!!! ...and great pix!!!! Link to comment
Firefight911 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Looks like some fun roads!!!!! ...and great pix!!!! No kidding! We need to descend on this place and others around it. Link to comment
johnlt Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Not only the paved roads Phil. There is a switchback dirt road that goes all the way down the backside of the mountain. Very similar to the one that goes down Copper Canyon. Link to comment
Silver Surfer/AKAButters Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Spot on John! One of my local favorites too. Gets a little dicey from time to time with the crotch rockets, but the local Leo's seemed to have reeled that in as of late. You need to do a photo essay on the mini grand canyon heading down from Sho Lo to Globe. That is eye candy and great roads as well. Great pics! Rich Link to comment
skinny_tom (aka boney) Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Very nice. Link to comment
azkaisr Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Is there a reason you didn't go down the North side? Link to comment
johnlt Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Is there a reason you didn't go down the North side? Yeah, I'm saving that delightful ride until Whip comes out. Descending down that backside to Oracle then taking the San Pedro river road (also dirt) to Redington Road (medium hard dirt) and coming back over Redington Pass is a great loop but it takes all day........ that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! Link to comment
duson Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 great pics.the rocks on the right on pict no 9 look very unsafe to me.love the threes with the yelow leaves. greetings from down under. henk Link to comment
ProductUser Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I've been up to Mt. Lemon several times and it's always a joy. It's a great road to scrub in some new tires, too Tony Link to comment
Albert Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Wow John those are some outstanding pictures. I need to research this Sky Island place you speak of . . . . Thanks! Link to comment
Todd_Z1 Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 I grew up in Tucson and have been up to Mt. Lemon many times. It is definitely a gem for the community but don't try and get up there on a weekend in the summer as the line is all the way up the mountain with locals trying to escape the heat. Sabino Canyon is another gem but they closed it off to traffic and you have to take a tram to the top. I used to ride my bicycle up there but they closed it to bicycles. For those of you that enjoy getting dirty there is a dirt road, Reddington Pass, that runs behind the Santa Catalina mountains that starts at the end of E. Tanque Verde. If you take this road around to San Miguel and then Rosendo Road you can eventually find your way up to Mt. Lemmon and the little town of Summerhaven. I have never done it myself, only heard about. I am sure it would be a blast on a GS. Cheers! Todd Link to comment
johnlt Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Todd, yes, I've done the Reddington Pass to Oracle then up the back side many times. Really a great DS ride. Link to comment
Bullett Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Is that a BEAR crossing??? Javalina??? What is that John? Link to comment
Silver Surfer/AKAButters Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Is there a reason you didn't go down the North side? Yeah, I'm saving that delightful ride until Whip comes out. Descending down that backside to Oracle then taking the San Pedro river road (also dirt) to Redington Road (medium hard dirt) and coming back over Redington Pass is a great loop but it takes all day........ that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! I did this ride several times on my DR350 and once in my Jeep. Lesson learned with the Jeep though. I shredded a tire trying to be polite by pulling off to the side. Bad news is that I only had a doughnut for a spare. Very interesting ride back down. Yikes! Of course I immediately went and bought full size spare. Link to comment
johnlt Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 That is black bear crossing. Many black bears on Mt. Lemmon. Link to comment
Todd_Z1 Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hey Whip, If you and the "little" missus ever decide to go to Tucson and try the road out for yourself, stay at the Westward Inn Resort. Fantastic place , great views, quiet and serene and good food at the restaurant. Cheers! Todd Link to comment
marty mayer Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hey John, Wish I was there! Have made two trips to Copper Canyon with John, Both times leaving from John's house in Tuscon. Mt Lemmon was our tune up ride the day before both times. It is a great ride. Up the paved side then down the dirt side. The first time when we got into some snow near the top, it got pretty interesting. Beautiful place. Marty Link to comment
ElevenFifty Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 Beautiful country ... hmmmmm - 1900 or so miles from ATL to Tucson - Link to comment
azkaisr Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I will leave the light on for you Link to comment
AZKomet Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Outstanding!!! Love that area! Link to comment
RussL Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Now that the summer temps have dropped, Mt Lemmon is on my list of rides in the near future. Great photos. Link to comment
SweetP Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Aaaah, what memories! The first time I went to Mt. Lemmon was in late '64, back when Speedway turned into desert at Wilmot and at Sneaky Pete's you could get a 32 oz. T-bone for free if you could finish it in less than an hour. My first 'motorcycle', a Honda 90. Road up on a bet with a friend who had a Honda 50. One of us said we could get there, the other said we couldn't. We had had a couple of soda pops and were in street clothes. But it was warm and sunny when we left. Not too far from the top we were greeted by a few inches of snow on the road and it was C-O-L-D! We made it, stayed about 10 seconds and headed down. But that was child's play compared to another run up the mountain. Four of us in a VW Beetle, at night, one headlight out. The driver, a daring co-ed with an apparent death wish, decided we should descend on the north side. It wasn't much more than a cow trail, no guard rails, started to snow, turning around impossible. I could just see the next day's headlines, or maybe a few days later after they found the wreckage. None of us had any idea where we were going and I still don't know how we got back to Tucson. I tell y'all, it was great to be young and crazy, better 'n old and crazy. Link to comment
azkaisr Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Worthy Tale Paul I had a similar experience in 1986 there with a baja bug and my two South African Roommates. We had a glorious snowball fight and then rolled down the hill with a pretty much brakeless bug. Tucson is still a wonderful place to me Link to comment
keithb Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 Excellent pics and what a beautiful area!! Nice. Link to comment
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