Around the east side of Mt Lemmon

Every now and then in the summer, Sweetums and I go down to Tucson and then drive up Mt Lemmon to escape the heat. It can be 30 degrees cooler in Summerhaven, near the top, than it is down in Tucson. On that drive, we approach Mt Lemmon from the north, go around the west side, and the road up is on the south side. Anyway, for the past couple of years I've been thinking that I should drive around the east side of Mt Lemmon, just to see what's there.

The San Pedro river flows along the east side of Mt Lemmon and has formed this valley.

Here's a super-panorama of the valley.

It's the rainy season, and there were storms around.

You start out going south on Reddington Road. According to Google maps, after a while its name alternates between Reddington Road and N San Pedro River Road. Also, sometimes it's spelled Redington and sometimes Reddington. When it gets to Tucson, the name changes to E Tanque Verde Road. It's a dirt road, but it had been graded recently and most of it was in very good shape (though I still wouldn't drive a minivan on it, and there were a few rough spots).

I saw some Horse Lubber grasshoppers. They are very colorful, so I didn't eat any. Well, I wasn't that hungry anyway.

The road got up around 4000 feet. There was a storm trying to follow me, and with the altitude and the storm's shade, it got down into the 80's. Very nice. I got sprinkled on a few times, usually when I stopped and got out to get some pictures.

This grassy meadow seems out of place. That's the Rincon Mountains in the background.

This place was very pretty, but you had to be moving by to see it all and how everything looked relative to everything else. I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of it.

Approaching Tucson from the southeast.

It was a pleasant, relaxing drive. I want to explore more around the San Pedro River some day. Click below to see all of the pictures.

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