Monday, October 15, 2012

Finding Fall Foliage

With October marking the two year anniversary of our departure from New England, we started asking locals here whether we could find any fall foliage in the Tucson area.   After considering a long trip to Sedona or a short trip to Sabino Canyon, we decided to make the 65 mile drive up Mt. Lemmon in search of some Maple trees, Aspens and whatever else we could find.   Getting to Mt Lemmon's Catalina Highway means we have to cross all of Tucson to the east side where we always see these suspiciously perfect, giant Saguaro Cacti looming above us on Sunrise Dr.  Today we decided they needed a closer look:


I guess they are some kind of cell tower, but they sure look real next to some live Saguaros.


The 6000 ft. vertical climb, 26 mile trip up Mt Lemmon passes through many Hoodoos and other interesting rock formations but we had our sights set on E. Bear Wallow Rd in search of Maple trees.


I think we found the Aspens right at their peak!  They were gorgeous, set off by the rich green color of the Ponderosa Pines.



At last, Maple trees!  Martha soaks up the sun donning a long sleeve shirt in the 63 degree air here at 8000+ feet.  Down in town it's about 98 degrees.






3 comments:

  1. I can well understand your need & desire to once again see the beautiful colors of Autumn. It is one of the things I like about the southwest because one can drive through different climate zones simply by changing altitude. Love those Aspens:))

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  2. Absolutely Beautiful!! The colors were just starting to show when we drove through the mountains to TN last weekend. It will be several weeks before they hit peak.

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  3. Great post. I'm sending to my daughter in Tempe so she can take a road trip. Keep them coming.

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