Mt. Lemmon - Tucson, AZ - Sept 15, 2011

A trip up the 27.5 mile long road that leads to the 9550' summit of Mt. Lemmon was an interesting and in lots of spots an exhilarating ride. It is a wide & well maintained road with guard rails at all of the appropriate spots but some of the inclines and drop offs will get your heart pumping unless you encounter something like this on a regular basis..... I certainly don't!

The view from one of the many pull offs.

and another looking at Tucson in the distance.

Some of the birds encountered at the summit included Hermit Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Bridled Titmouse, Common Raven and Townsend's Warbler as seen below.

Pygmy Nuthatch

Mountain Chickadee

and my favorite Yellow-eyed Juncos seen in the next two images.

A brief video of a Junco feeding

There were feeders along the road on the ride down that attracted both Rufous Hummingbirds

and Magnificent Hummingbirds as seen in the next two shots.

All in all a ride I won't soon forget and one I hope to repeat in the years to come.