EMPS: Islands in the Sky, part three

This is the final entry in my photo essay series about a recent trip up Catalina Highway into the Santa Catalina Mountains, originally intended for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot: Earth Day. We've already covered highlights from my photos of the portion of the trip from Babad Do'ag Vista to Windy Point. Here are some shots from the few stops I made after that.

From the Picasa album Mount Lemmon Highway

Here is San Pedro Vista, which looks down on the San Pedro River valley and east toward New Mexico. I've photographed it a number of times over the years. I'm not sure when the tree on the left burned, but it's been at least since the Aspen Fire of June 2003, probably longer.

San Pedro Vista again. The mountain crag on the right is a popular launching point for falcons, common blackhawks and other raptors. At least, it was in the 1980s. I haven't seen a hawk, a falcon or an eagle there in years. That could be the result of my not visiting at the right time of day, however. Hope so, anyway!

Pepper decided at one point to put her front paws on the wall at San Pedro Vista for a better look at whatever it was I what photographing. I encouraged her to repeat the action for my camera.

When I tried to get Cayenne to do the same thing, she was a little unclear on the concept! Don't worry - she never got far enough out on the wall to be in any danger. I had hold of her leash the whole time and quickly got her down again. In any case, there is a short distance of relatively flat ground beyond the wall before you get to the edge of the cliff.

This is Geology Vista. In theory you can see a copper smelter off in the distance, but the sky wasn't really clear enough for that on this particular late afternoon.

I'm not quite sure where this rock formation is, but it reminds me of a Norman castle.

This is a picnic ground at Bear Wallow or Bear Canyon or Bear Something. The sign just said "Middle Bear," but it was the middle of three parking areas, and I remember it being labeled differently in years past. On the way up, I read the words "Closed To All Use" and thought the whole area was closed because of recent bear encounters. (Yes, they happen from time to time.) But it turns out that it's just closed at night, when the bears are probably more active, or at least harder to see. There are at least three camping sites in the Catalinas, but this isn't one of them. It was at one time, apparently, but isn't now.

That's it for this particular trip up Mount Lemmon. I hope you enjoyed taking the virtual tour with me!

Karen

See also

EMPS: Islands in the Sky, part one,

EMPS: Islands in the Sky, part two