By
Michelle McCollum
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Mt. Lemmon activities provide adventure and entertainment
Cars of eager visitors cruise the neatly paved Catalina Highway that winds up Mt. Lemmon, watching the saguaros disappear and pine trees take their place.
Once the pavement disappears, travelers find themselves navigating the curves of a dusty, gravel road amid ancient rock formations and Aspen trees tall enough to induce nosebleeds.
But that's what they come up to see.
"People come here just to get away," said Don Underhill, owner of the Alpine Lodge in Summerhaven, a small community on the mountain. "They're in a natural environment, and I think it makes them feel closer to the earth."
Hundreds of marked and unmarked trails make Mt. Lemmon a mecca for hiking buffs since the whole mountain is a national forest. Miles of paths wind around the mountain leading to breathtaking views, gold-filled canyons and dense pine tree coves.
"You can go anywhere," said Bob Porter, volunteer naturalist with the Coronado National Forest, a Santa Catalina ranger district. "There are a number of organized and unorganized camping grounds and you can backpack wherever you want."
One such backpacking trail leads to Ca–ada del Oro, meaning "Gold Canyon" in Spanish, which is a canyon on the northwest side of the mountain where travelers can still pan for gold.
"In the depression years, people used to make a living panning for gold," Porter explained. "Three and a half to five miles (off the main road) is the best place to be."
There are also old prison camps where, in the early 20th century, jail inmates were kept so they could construct the Catalina Highway.
"The road was started in the 1930's, and ended around 1952," Porter said. "It took so long (to build) because they were prisoners and only used wheelbarrows, picks and shovels."
But wherever visitors go, it is imperative to be prepared for traveling off road. Porter said not being prepared is the main danger hikers face on Mt. Lemmon.
"It's a huge danger if you don't know a trail and you get off the trail and run out of water," Porter adds. "After that, of course, it's just fun."
But hiking isn't the only activity Mt. Lemmon has to offer. In Summerhaven, a colorful community at an elevation of approximately 7,700 ft., there is eating, drinking, music and art.
Abby Road, the artist in residence at the Mt. Lemmon Cafe, a restaurant famous for its Pennsylvania Dutch pies, now makes a living selling acrylic landscapes outside the cafe after having given up a life as a concert pianist due to a muscle disease.
"I can't hold my arms straight out anymore, so now I do paintings," she said. "I love the altitude up here - it's so much better than being in the city."
Porter described Summerhaven as an "island of private property in the middle of a national forest," but the few locals who live there describe it with one word - "home."
Those that live in the area say hanging around the bar at the Alpine Lodge, or one of the other quaint settings in Summerhaven, is the best place to get to know the natives. But don't ever ask for last names, because according to them, they don't have any.
"You have to make an effort to live here," said "Moondoggy," of Moondoggy's Mountain Mobiles. "The road goes straight up and straight down."
"There's no grocery store or laundromat," he added. "If you don't really enjoy living here, you don't."
Moondoggy makes a living on the mountain by "doing odd jobs" and making mobiles out of mountain materials like driftwood, feathers and glass.
"What I like best is there's no crime rate," said Bones, the chef at the Alpine Lodge. "Well, I shouldn't say 'no crime rate.' Sometimes someone will take someone else's parking space."
On the weekends, the community comes alive with activities planned by the Mt. Lemmon Community Events Coordinators.
"This weekend, we had a Renaissance festival - last weekend, we did Blue Grass," said Patty Thomas, one of the coordinators. "Last year we had aliens land on Mt. Lemmon. Pop up any time and see what's going on. That's the fun of it."
Further up on the mountain is the town of Ski Valley, where visitors ski in the winter and hike in the summer.
"It is the southern most ski lift in the country," says Porter. "Serious skiers say that it isn't very good, but at least it's close to the city and you don't have to drive hours and hours to ski. In the summer, the lift - for $5 - will take you up and then you can hike about one and a half miles down."
But Porter said a full tank of gas might be the biggest ally when heading up Mt. Lemmon. Despite the popularity of the mountain, there are no gas stations anywhere on it.
"Make sure you have a full tank when you go up," Porter says. "People have been known to coast back down."
