Mt. Lemmon, Arizona

Hello all! It's Paige from Cosmic Travels. This particular trip happened in September, 2024.

My partner Mike and I love road trips, and we were super excited to visit another Arizona State Park. Just as the heat was just starting to break, bringing much needed relief. We strongly believe in being tourist in the place where one lives. We have been using the Arizona State Parks Passport For Fun as a guide to our adventures in Arizona. This has turned us into the oldest 8 year-olds alive. We always enjoy getting out and exploring our local wonders.

This trip we loaded up or two dogs for this adventure. Wally was an almost 2 year-old Jackadore. He is a large dog. Tilly was an almost 6 month old Minchi. She is a small dog. There is a distinct difference in their size, temperament, and care needs. Our destination took us south toward Tucson. The ultimate destination was Mt. Lemmon, Catalina State Park, Rose Canyon Lake, and finally to the Tom Mix memorial to once again pay our respects. Not necessarily in that order. The plan was to have a picnic and a series of nice walkies for the doggies.

For this trip I brought along some of the things I'd been developing for potential future sales for the past few months. This trip was a chance to practice the Cosmic Nature/Travels Commitment to Sustainability. Most of what hasn't been handmade was bought second-hand. I am a seasoned road tripper and have been hard at work developing ways to help care for Mother Earth, yet civilized.

After our picnic basket was cleaned, sanitized, and all spiders released back into the wild, it was time to pack. In the bottom were placed handmade crochet pads and an embroidered flour sack tea towel. Doing so adds an absorbent layer in case anything is spilled in transit. Since the pads and towel are 100% cotton, they can be thrown into the usual laundry with no further care needed. Not even fabric softener. Our lunch was packed in reusable containers instead of plastic zippy bags. In addition to our individually packed lunch boxes, we brought along a duo of crochet pocket picnic placemats. Place reusable picnic flatware and napkins into the pockets. They simply roll up and fit compactly into our picnic basket. Humble brag about our low-waste picnic lunch!

Of course the dogs have their own needs. Tilly needs a bit of cushioning or she'll fall in the gaps between the seats. Along with her cushion, she had her sunshade blanket to shield her from the glaring sun rays coming through the truck window.

About 9:15am, we were on our way to our first fresh air stop of the day. The Tom Mix memorial. The memorial is about halfway between Florence and Tucson on Highway 79. Tom Mix was the John Wayne of the early twentieth century. He died in that spot in 1940, according the Wikipedia article I pulled up quickly on my phone. Every time we head south to Tucson, we stop and pay our respects. To keep the legend alive, I will give a nutshell version below:

One dark and stormy night, Tom was speeding along Highway 79 on his way back to Los Angeles from Tucson after visiting friends. He ignored the barricades in place due to flash flooding in a nearby wash (now named Tom Mix Wash). He lost control of the car and died on the very spot the memorial stands today. However, it was not the car accident that killed him. What did was a large suitcase filled with cash, gold, and other valuables hit him in the back of the head when he lost control of the car. Let that be a lesson for us all.

We stopped and stretched our legs. We'd hoped the dogs would leave an offering of some sort while we were there. Sadly this did not happen, but the time in waiting gave a great opportunity to look around and get a real feel for the place. Admittedly there was an air of creepiness about the area. A sudden death, leading to confusion in the afterlife. We got the dogs settled back in and we were off to Catalina State Park, a drive of about a half-hour with the beautiful Catalina mountains becoming clearer through the dusty desert haze by the moment. After exploring the park earlier in the year, we came back to get our Passport stamped. It's a great park which we plan on exploring further at a later date. Our plan that day was to picnic at Mt. Lemmon.

We were in the Coronado National Forest. The road wasn't maintained by the county anymore so there were slight differences. Such as the location of signage only posted on one side of the road. We began to notice signs warning us there was a recent burn in the area in the previous couple of months. Charred remains of trees punched up through the lush undergrowth that finally got the much needed sunlight to thrive and renew the forest as a whole. As the road started to climb in elevation and curve dramatically, Tilly was sick all over my pants. There was a plan to visit Frank in Tucson, but this put an end to that part of the plan. Along with Wally's farts, I was happy I'd begun to make face masks again. With a brief pit stop to clean up, we were chugging up the mountain once again.

We arrived at Rose Canyon Lake and pulled in to the campground/day use area. We were greeted by the very sweet fee booth lady, we got our day pass and proceeded to the Bobcat day use area suggested. Unfortunately, the Bobcat day use area was being used by a large group. We proceeded around to the parking area that leads to the lake. Prime opportunity to have some walkie time and air out a bit.

Rose Canyon Lake is a beautiful oasis in the harshness of the Arizona desert. While we were exploring the lakeside, a lizard caught the attention of the dogs. Wally was more interested in barking at a better behaved dog that just strolled by. He tends to bark at other dogs for no reason so there was a moment of anxious anticipation. He's not aggressive, he just has some special needs after eating something he shouldn't have. We continued along until we came upon an older lady reading peacefully on a lakeside bench with her own tiny dog. We feared another outburst from Wally, so we guided our pack back to the truck. It was definitely lunchtime. We were told we could use any table as long as it didn't belong to a campsite. The sites were clean and ready for expected campers. Oddly enough a couple of empty and seemingly available tables had signs that forbade picnicking. We shrugged and continued up Mt. Lemmon looking for a roadside table at the very least.

After a surprisingly complicated search, a stray table was finally found near some sort of maintenance station. It was a snug little spot just off the road. Quiet and under a large shady tree, we set up our lunch alfresco. It was nice having the pocket placemats along for a clean place to eat on a filthy picnic table. As we were finishing up lunch, another picnicking party came along and we packed up and continued onto Summerhaven. We knew the particular struggle to find a picnic table that day.

The lodge in Summerhaven looked very warm and inviting. It brought up fond memories of a similar lodge somewhere in the cobwebs of distant childhood memories. I put Mt. Lemmon Lodge on my hotel bucket list. With elevation hovering around the 8000ft range, we couldn't stay long with out feeling the effects of the high altitude.

After this last stop, we went back down the mountain road. We came back to Queen Creek via the Interstate. A whopping three-hour drive back home. Even as exhausted as we were when we arrived home, we began to plan our next adventure before we even hit the front door.