Report From Today's Mt. Lemmon/Summerhaven Visit (Tucson, Catalina: lease, condo)

[azdr0710]

after getting morning chores done, decided I wanted to go for a hike and a look-around up in the heights....

as some of you know, the Mt Lemmon Cafe has closed permanently...was famous for its great pies and smoked meats, slow service, and notoriously grumpy owner...it was a local legend...I once hiked all the way up Mt Lemmon from Catalina State Park just to get a slice of pie.....a dumpster now sits right in front and demolition has already begun...the building was leased

the gate down below Summerhaven on the way to Marshall Gulch is closed....part of the road down further has collapsed and nobody is allowed to drive further, though walking is allowed....I think the County, not the Forest Service, is responsible for that maintenance and I hear it will be closed all summer.....

the Cookie Cabin, called Cookies and Cabins before the big 2003 fire burned it, is doing a big business with pizza and big cookies....nice new "neo log cabin" building....

only other major business in "town" is the Mt Lemmon General Store, built on the site of the old one that also burned in the fire....attached is a gift shop....nice selection of food and stuff at high prices

first time I was up there was in 1980...the 2003 fire, as most of you know, was devastating and changed the aura of the place a lot....there is a slightly realigned main street now, reworked for drainage of upper Sabino Canyon (yes, that's upper Sabino running thru Summerhaven)...improved visitor parking....nice new community center building - rarely open, but looking appropriate for the locale....lots of much bigger "cabins" up there on the now-free-of-trees hillsides....metal roofs on almost all....several signs announcing "future construction" of a restaurant, lodge, small condo building in the center of town....I think these are hoped-for ideas by Zimmerman, the long-time "mayor" of Summerhaven, owner of Mt Lemmon Realty, and controversial character....

up at the ski area, summer lift rides are available for a fee and the Iron Door restaurant is there for very casual service....I think chili is a specialty there....nice view....

every Sunday from 12-5 thru early September, there's a casual live music show going on in the center of Summerhaven....

25 miles to the top....along the way up, there are fantastic view points, picnic areas, bathrooms, easy and hard trails, the whole bit....nice small visitor center run by the Forest Service is on the south side at Palisades, about 20 miles up....usually open during regular hours....$5/day or $20/year for a pass that's required if you stop at any Forest Service-managed area (trails, picnics, bathrooms, viewpoints)....buy one at mile 6 or use a self-pay station along the way if closed...extra fee to camp.....

[LordBalfor]

Azdr0710 -

Interesting reading. Thanks for the update.

Ken

[JillBoBill]

I didn't take any photos of the town (except one from far away), but I did get some of the mountain. I was going to make my own thread, but they seem like they'll go just as well here...



We drove through Summerhaven and parked where it said not to park to walk down to Marshall Gulch.



View from Inspiration Rock (you can see some burned trees, but it's pretty green).



A panorama'd (poorly) view of the non-Tucson side of Mt. Lemmon.




Around Inspiration Rock, you could see Summerhaven. You can really see the clear delineation of 'burned to high h-e-double-hockey-stick' and 'not burned' here.



Another view of the same:

[LordBalfor]

Great shots.

Thanks!

Ken

PS - plan to see it again myself in a couple more months.

[Chorizo]

If I remember - later when I have access to my home machine I've got some great pics of stuff on the way up that mountain.

For anyone who has not been on the mountain a lot, another good thing to check out is Molino Canyon. (Watch for the Signs for Molino Canyon/Basin) Especially a few days after a snow or a day after a good hard rain on the mountain, the creeks are running well, good scenery.

[sierraAZ]

I probably have pictures of the old Cabins & Cookies somewhere...

That cabin now should be called The Pizza Cabin!

[GJBenn85]

I was born and raised in Tucson and visited Summerhaven a lot. When I was last in Tucson in April 2007, I went up the mountain again and was shocked by just how much the "town" has changed as a result of the fire. I personally think its charm is gone, which is unfortunate because it used to be a cozy little town with a bit of character.

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by GJBenn85

I was born and raised in Tucson and visited Summerhaven a lot. When I was last in Tucson in April 2007, I went up the mountain again and was shocked by just how much the "town" has changed as a result of the fire. I personally think its charm is gone, which is unfortunate because it used to be a cozy little town with a bit of character.

Well, I don't know what it looked like beforehand, but I was there in 2007 as well and didn't find it at all appealing up there. The drive up was great but the top area was "not good" - with signs of the fires everywhere and (as you mention) no charm at all.

Ken

[GJBenn85]

Summerhaven used to be a welcomed break from the monotonous desert of Tucson. Now, as a result of the fire and new building codes and structures, it disappointingly looks a lot like Tucson...only with "log" structures and steeper hills. And it seems the rebuilding, what little there really is, has no predefined plan.

I do not understand it either. Several other mountain towns in AZ have burned but they did not lose the simple mountain charm.

[Joey Saint]

This is a bit of an unrelated question but this seemed like the likeliest place to get an answer. While camping on Mt. Lemmon in Oct. of 2005 we saw a very strong beam of light that seemed to come from the southeast toward the northwest. It would pierce the night sky for only a second or two and only happened a few times. I always thought it must have been from an observatory. Any thoughts?