Mount Lemmon, with a summit elevation of , is the highest point in the

Santa Catalina Mountains The Santa Catalina Mountains, commonly referred to as the Catalina Mountains or the Catalinas, are north and northeast of Tucson in Arizona, United States, on Tucson's north perimeter. The mountain range is the most prominent in the Tucson area, w ...

. It is located in the

Coronado National Forest The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of ...

north of

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, United States. Mount Lemmon was named for

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Sara Plummer Lemmon Sara Allen Plummer (September 3, 1836 – January 15, 1923) was an American botanist. Mount Lemmon in Arizona is named for her, as she was the first white woman to ascend it. She was responsible for the designation of the golden poppy (''Eschsch ...

, who trekked to the top of the mountain with her husband and E. O. Stratton, a local rancher, by horse and foot in 1881. Mount Lemmon is also known as Babad Do'ag, or Frog Mountain to the Tohono O'odham.

Geography

Climate

Due to the elevation change from the bottom to the top, the summit of the mountain can be twenty to thirty degrees cooler than the base. It usually sees at least one snow fall during the winter months, making it a cool escape and popular tourist attraction for Tucson inhabitants.

Geology

Mount Lemmon is made up of Bolsa Quartzite,

Dripping Spring Quartzite The Mesoproterozoic Dripping Spring Quartzite is a resistant, purple quartzite formation found in central and southeast Arizona, USA. It is a cliff-forming purplish unit found in the lower sections of the Apache Group, units of originally sedi ...

, and a local sandstone and conglomerate. The portions have been intruded by a

Diabase Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-graine ...

Dike Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes ...

of the Apace Group.

Summerhaven

Summerhaven Summerhaven is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson in Pima County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a permanent population of ...

is a small town near the top of the mountain. It is a summer residence for many but there are some year round residents. There are many small cabins most of which were rebuilt after the

Aspen Fire The Aspen Fire burned from June 17, 2003, for about a month on Mount Lemmon, part of the Santa Catalina Mountains located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, and in the surrounding area. It burned (132.4 sq mi) of land, a ...

of July 2003.

Mount Lemmon Station Observatory

At the peak is the

Mount Lemmon Observatory Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLO), also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately northeast of Tucson, Arizona (US). The site in the Corona ...

, which was formerly the site of a USAF radar base of the

Air Defense Command Aerospace Defense Command was a major command (military formation), command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was est ...

, and the building that formerly housed a military emergency radar tracking station for landing the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

. Although the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

had a presence on the mountain for several decades all their facilities have been abandoned and were given to the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

. The area and buildings that makes up the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory are leased from the Forest Service by the University of Arizona. The telescopes on the mountain are still used for astronomical research today by organizations such as the

Catalina Sky Survey Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code: 703) is an astronomical survey to discover comets and asteroids. It is conducted at the Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, located near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. CSS focuses on the search ...

, the

Mount Lemmon Sky Center This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellit ...

, the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Astronomy Camp Astronomy Camp is a science summer camp hosted by the University of Arizona's Alumni Association, and run by astronomer Don McCarthy. Many of the early camps took place at the Mount Lemmon Station Observatory atop Mount Lemmon, near Tucson, Arizona ...

program, the University of Arizona, and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. The educational resources at the top of the mountain make it a unique research and teaching destination.

Catalina Highway

The

Catalina Highway The Catalina Highway, officially the General Hitchcock Highway, is the popular name for a Forest Highway and scenic route located in Pima County in southern Arizona. Also known as the Sky Island Scenic Byway, the Mount Lemmon Highway and Arizona ...

, also called the Mount Lemmon Highway, as well as the Hitchcock Highway (after

Frank Harris Hitchcock Frank Harris Hitchcock (October 5, 1867 – August 5, 1935), was chairman of Republican National Committee from 1908 to 1909. He was then Postmaster General of the United States under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1913. Biograph ...

), runs up the Santa Catalina Mountains from the east side of Tucson up to

, at the top of Mt. Lemmon. The beautiful, curving road is a favorite drive for tourists, for locals escaping summer's heat and cyclists, and has been recently designated as the ''Sky Island Parkway'', part of the US

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

system. 2010 saw the inaugural running of the

Mount Lemmon Marathon The Mount Lemmon Marathon were a pair of separate road race marathon events that took place in the Santa Catalina Mountains near the city of Tucson, Arizona, United States. The initial race, which was in the uphill direction, was held between 2010 ...

Fees and permits

Catalina Highway charges tolls for parking, camping, and hiking. However, the tolls are only officially charged for people who are camping. Tolls for other events, such as hiking, parking, or grilling, are a part of the honor system. Park rangers will not check for toll payments unless someone is using the park campgrounds. Anyone wishing to sightsee or travel to Summerhaven are not subjected to paying tolls.

Back side

An unpaved road to the summit on the north side of Mount Lemmon starts in

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

, which is on Arizona Route 77 north of Tucson. It offers a secondary route to the top. This route is popular with off-road 4x4 drivers and with off-road or dual-purpose motorcyclists. This road ends at the Catalina Highway near Loma Linda. Before the Catalina Highway was built it was the only route up the mountain. File:Hoodoos,_Santa_Catalina_Mountains.jpg, Hoodoos, Santa Catalina Mountains File:Remnants_of_the_2003_Aspen_Fire.jpg, Remnants of the 2003 Aspen Fire File:Mount_Lemmon_Ski_Valley.jpg, Mount Lemmon Ski Valley File:Cabins_atop_Mt_Lemmon_in_Summerhaven.jpg, Cabins atop Mt Lemmon in Summerhaven File:(140) Mountlemmonobservatory.JPG, View of the telescopes on Mount Lemmon File:Oracle AZ Mt Lemmon.JPG, View of Mount Lemmon from Oracle, AZ File:Backside.jpg, Unpaved road on the north or "backside" of Mount Lemmon File:SkyIslandPkwy.JPG, Catalina Highway climbing Mount Lemmon File:Stereograph_-Mount_Lemmon_Highway.jpg, Stereograph of the Mt Lemmon Highway near Windy Point Vista.

References

External links

* *
NOAA "Mount Lemmon Forecast"
* {{Authority control Santa Catalina Mountains Geography of Tucson, Arizona Lemmon Landforms of Pima County, Arizona Mountains of Pima County, Arizona North American 2000 m summits