Mt Lemmon — Local services in Oro Valley

Spectacular! You can find a variety of hiking trails and picnic spots. There are many vista points and pull-offs up and down the mountain that are well worth your time. The restroom facilities are basically a permanent outhouse with toilet paper provided. You should plan to bring your own hand sanitizer.

Driving through the three different climate zones on the way up the mountains was very interesting. The cacti stop growing at almost exactly 4,000 ft and the forest starts quite suddenly around 5,700 ft in elevation. The ride up and down the mountain is very curvy. If you are prone to motion sickness, grab a bag of ginger snaps or candied ginger from Trader Joe's (or Safeway, or any other grocery store) or a motion sickness medication before you go.

As you will see noted many other places, the temperatures at the top of the mountain are about 30° cooler than they are on the valley floor in Tucson. You may want to bring an extra long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, or jacket for warmth. This is not the place to wear Crocs or sandals. Even on the shorter and easier trails, you will need good sneakers. Wear hiking boots, if you have them.

You will also want to bring plenty of water. It's easier to get dehydrated when the air around you is drier. Being from the East coast, I've noticed that my skin even gets drier here.

When you drive back down the mountains, try to remember not to stay on your brakes the whole time so you don't burn them out. Gently slow down and then coast, or shift to a lower gear. If you're starting to accumulate a train of cars behind you on the road, use the pull-offs and vista points to let them around you. Don't forget to check out the Cookie Cabin and the General Store in Summerhaven before you leave! The fudge at the general store is truly outstanding! It's affordable, too.

Mt. Lemmon is a beautiful and awesome place! Well...

The drive up was 45 minutes if driving the speed limit. The road was in fine condition despite the area had a forest fire 4 to 5 months ago. It hugs the mountain so it has a lot of twists and hairpin turns, therefore be prepared if you are prone to motion sickness. The scenery is ever changing along the way. It changes from desert to grassland to pines to ponderosa gradually and spectacularly. There are numerous scenic lookouts dotting the route. Visitors can pull off and park and look at the changing views. We noticed trailheads all the way up, although all of them have been closed due to the recent fire. There are camp sites also. But we could not visit any, also due to fire closures. We arrived at the split where the road leads to either summerhaven further up or right to ski valley; we took the right turn. At the end of road, there is a parking lot, a restaurant and gift/fudge shop, a ski lift and some port-a-potties. The parking is less than 100 spots, I can see on a busy weekend this could fill up quickly. We were here in August so the ski lifts are used as sky rides. Visitors can buy a ticket and ride up to the top of the ski hills to get a good look. We were told usually we could have walked around before coming back down, but not this time because of fire scars. We checked out the restaurant, Iron Door. It is serves german food but it could not accommodate GF diet other than salad. The host said they use wheat flour in sauces so it is very hard for them to change it on the fly. So be prepared. We spent roughly half an hour looking and exploring, enjoying the cool temperature. It felt like a sunny winter day of AZ up here, it is a wonderful way to get away...

My home away from home. A good 25-35 degrees cooler than downtown Tucson at the top. The Arizona Trail runs right over it. Endless miles of world-class hiking. Lance Armstrong used to train on this mountain. But you know what he didn't do here? Ride side by side with other cyclists. Single file only, and stay in the bike lane. You're not that guy, pal. Also, either keep up with the line of traffic behind you or pull over in one of the 1000s of pullouts made specifically for you. Do not be the guy at the front of the line slowing down to 15mph to go around a corner. It's an hour to the top without you. If you're gonna sight see, do it from the Vista points, not from your car. You put everybody's lives in danger. Every location with parking spots has a trash can. Those are for you. Please use them. Leave it better than you found it. N while you're here, make sure to stop by all the locally-owned shops and grab your fudge and your pizza and your "everybody's high up here" shirts and a pie, and enjoy yourself. It's a little slice of heaven on earth and it deserves to be...