Diary of a Day Trip: Mount Lemmon, Part Three

This is part three of the four-part series that started Sunday night.  My chronicle of the trip up Mount Lemmon ends at the top with Marshall Gulch and Summerhaven.  I thought I could cram all that into this entry, but that's really too many pictures for one entry.  So, out of sympathy for everyone on dial-up--including me!--the Summerhaven part will be tomorrow night.

But before we get to that, here's my 30 second movie of driving up Mt. Lemmon, as listed in last night's narrations.  The WMM program even made the file smaller, for which I'm grateful.  It's not technically impressive - at all - but it amuses me.

Click here: Mt. Lemmon Driving Adventure

Narration, MVI_0838:  This is Marshall Gulch, past Summerhaven.  It's not open for the season yet.  I may walk past the gate anyway.  This is basically the top of Mount Lemmon, where I used to go to see Stellar's Jays, which are bigger than Blue Jays, and more dramatic-looking.  Here's some actual running water.  We don't always get that around here.



The creek at Marshall Gulch runs by the road to the picnic area.  We're probably looking at winter/spring runoff here.



This is near where the Aspen Fire started in June, 2003.  It was the big fire that wiped out most of Summerhaven.



There are a few signs of fire damage in Marshall Gulch today - tree stumps, downed logs, a sinkhole in the road.  But...

Narration, MVI_0863:  Really, Marshall Gulch doesn't look much changed by the fire.  It's very quiet up here--not too many Stellar's Jays, ormuch of any birds, really, although I hear a few.  It's very quiet.  I'm not sure, stimulation junkie that I am, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.  It's just a thing.




Boulders at Marshall Gulch are unmoved by recent events.

I should explain that Stellar's Jays aren't as boisterous or gregarious as Blue Jays, at least not in my experience.  They live in really really tall trees, so even if you hear one, that doesn't mean you'll see it.  This probably explains why I've never gotten a good picture of one in the wild.

Narration, MVI_0878:  This is take two on taking a picture of a little waterfall I found.



Click on the narration above to see my eight-second waterfall movie.  Thanks to Becky for turning it 90 degrees so that it's not running sideways!

Tomorrow: Summerhaven returns from the ashes.  No, really!  I promise! 

Karen