Mount Lemmon
| Mount Lemmon |
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_Mountlemmonobservatory.JPG)
Mount Lemmon is in the Santa Catalina Mountains located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, United States. It is 9,157 feet above sea-level, and receives approximately 180 inches of snow annually. Mount Lemmon was named in honor of botanist Sarah Lemmon, who trekked to the top of the mountain with Native American guides by mule and foot in 1881.
A small town called Summerhaven is on the mountain, which includes many cabins, some occupied only part of the year. Much of this town was devastated by the Aspen Fire of 2003, and recovery is still taking place. It is near Ski Valley which is the southernmost ski destination in the continental United States.
It is the site of an observatory, which was formerly the site of a radar base of the Air Defense Command, and the building that formerly housed a military emergency radar tracking station for landing the Space Shuttle at White Sands Missile Range. Although the United States Military had a presence on the mountain for several decades all their facilities have been abandoned. The telescopes on the mountain are still used for astronomical research today by organizations such as the Catalina Sky Survey, and the University of Arizona Astronomy Camp program.
The location 'Windy Point' was built by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, using a large number of prisoners over a period of 18 years, and is a popular place for outdoor weddings.
There is also an isolated population of American Red Squirrels on the mountain, which have been the focus of a number of environmental concerns, and have restricted development.
The Catalina Highway, also called the Mount Lemmon Highway, as well as the Hitchcock Highway (after Frank Harris Hitchcock, the local newspaper editor who inspired its construction) runs up the Santa Catalina Mountains from the east side of Tucson up to Summerhaven, at the top of Mt. Lemmon. The beautiful, curving road is a favorite drive for tourists, for locals escaping summer's heat, for motorcyclists, and cyclists, and has been recently designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the US National Scenic Byway system. The highway has been improved recently, but the speed limit has also been lowered to 35 MPH (56 km/h) due to concerns about the highway's safety during peak traffic times.
A dirt road to the summit on the "back side" of Mount Lemmon starts in Oracle, which is on state highway 77 northeast of Tucson. It offers a secondary route to the top. Follow East Mount Lemmon Road southeast off East American Avenue. This route is popular with off-road 4x4 drivers and with off-road or dual-purpose motorcyclists, but should not be attempted by regular passenger cars or street motorcycles. This road ends at the Catalina Highway near Loma Linda.
See also
External links
Media related to Mount Lemmon at Wikimedia Commons
- Computer generated summit panoramas:
- NOAA Mt. Lemmon Forecast
- Current Weather Conditions on Mt. Lemmon
- Information about the astronomical observatory
- The Catalina Sky Survey
