My family traveled to the Phoenix area, where my parents live, to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. I also had my birthday while we were here (although not a big significant year).
I usually like to do a fun adventure run or race for my birthday. This year, I waffled on the idea of doing a road race in Phoenix. The Phoenix marathon and half was going on during our time here, but in the end I didn't want to pound the pavement for that long.
Instead, I knew we'd be visiting Tucson during our time in Arizona, so I explored adventure options in the Mount Lemmon area.
Tucson itself reminds me of Colorado Springs in many ways. It is roughly the same size, and also located near a much larger metro area. Additionally, Mount Lemmon has a significant amount of vertical rise above its base, similar to Pikes Peak, and it sits just outside of town. Lemmon, like Pikes, also has a paved road to the summit.
I knew my adventure option and it was a good one.
I would have my family drop me off at the Sabino Canyon Visitor center, and I'd make my way up to the Palisade Visitor center, along the road to Mount Lemmon, where they could again pick me up. I'd get lots of vertical elevation gain and not have to pound the downhill.
Here's my family at the Sabino Visitor center before I took off. They walked around lower Sabino and had a great hike while I did my run!
Sabino canyon usually has a shuttle bus that rides up and down the lower portion, but the bus was not in service today. As such, my shortest route would be to run up the road for 3.7 miles before joining the trail. Lots of visitors were on the road doing the same thing as I started out my run.
The canyon quickly wound up through interesting rocks and lots of saguaros.
At the top of the road, the real adventure began. Here's a view from 4 miles in and about 1000 feet up from the base of the canyon.
The Sabino Canyon trail was two miles of gorgeous rocks and cacti until the river crossing at the East Fork trail.
I felt like a real adventurer, or like I was a character in a western film, crossing the desert on foot. As you can see, I couldn't get enough photos of the beauty around me!
Soon enough I came to the East Fork, which was just a mile from the other river crossing which would connect to the Palisade Trail. It would be my last trail connection, as the Palisade Trail went all the way to the Palisade Visitor center where my family would be picking me up.
The desert landscape was changing. Instead of fields of saguaro, there were more yuccas and high desert shrubbery. Immediately after crossing the river onto the Palisades trail, the trail essentially disappeared. It was so overgrown by high desert grass that it was hidden.
Fortunately, someone had gone to great lengths to add cairns to the trail every few meters. So for miles, I followed the cairns, seeking the next one within sight before moving forward.
During this segment of my journey, I experienced the greatest views and also the most challenges. It was apparent that this area didn't see nearly as many visitors as the Sabino canyon area. There were a few times when I wasn't sure I'd make the journey.
The desert was changing again. More short green shrubs appeared, while prickly pear and other cacti became fewer and fewer. Stacks of flat rocks were everywhere within sight!
As I was beginning to lose hope (and sunlight), I finally encountered my first pine tree, along with a patch of snow. Soon the pine forest was all around me. The view back down into Sabino canyon was amazing in the setting sun.
And then I rounded a corner, and the remaining section of trail was covered in snow!
I finally made it to the Palisades Vistor center, and just before the sunset. Luckily my family hadn't arrived yet, so I didn't have to make them wait. But within about 10 minutes, they came to pick me up!
They had had a nice hike in lower Sabino and a picnic before coming up the Mount Lemmon road to fetch me. On our way down from the road, we stopped at an overlook to see the city of Tucson in the setting sun.
Wow, what an amazing day! This is the kind of adventure that I live for, even if there are moments when I feel that I seriously overestimated my abilities. Moments when I felt like I might never make it, or that I might get lost in the desert. But it all worked out for a perfect adventure run, from the hot desert below to the snowy forest above.
Here are some stats:
Starting elevation: 2700 ft
Ending elevation: 7800 ft
Distance: 15 miles
Total time: 5 hours
Thank you for reading my adventure, I hope you liked the photos!
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