The hike promises to be a big one. Quite a number of people signed up and a few showed up without an RSVP. No problem, the more the merrier. Also means the whole hike will be a bit delayed. Hard to herd a big crowd.

The drive to Tucson was the usual, fast and uneventful. The drive up Mt. Lemmon was breathtaking. The area is lush and green, with water falling down waterfalls and flowing through streams. It was sunny 95% of the drive up the mountain. But right near the top, at the trailhead, the sky looked gloomy. The air was chilly and most hikers donned their sweaters and jackets. Some forgot to bring warm clothing and had no choice but to just stand the cold. We quickly warmed up as soon as we started hiking. The trail is pretty steep all the way. We originally wanted to do parts of 5 trails, but after calculating the total distance of all segments, we came up with a number that is too long for a day hike: 14 miles R/T. So we decided to just stick to one short trail, the Aspen Trail, all the way up and down, for a total of about 8 miles R/T.

The area where we hiked experienced a forest fire in 2003. The charred blacked tree trunks are still standing. The gound though was lush and green and full of shrubs, ferns and bushes. The ground is very damp. This after all the rain Mt. Lemmon received this season, about 20 inches so far just in the monsoon season alone.

The area around the peak of Mt. Lemmon was mostly covered by fog. Intermittently, we could see through the fog and see Tucson and the valley below. The trail was very easy to follow, until we got to the top of Mt. Lemmon, by the ski lift, then we started to get lost. There are a lot of possible trails at the top. There is the road, and a jeep trail. Then there are a few other trails that terminate at the top of Mt. Lemmon. By the time some of us reached the top of Mt. Lemmon, the group had already been separated into many smaller groups with the intention of re-grouping up top. Due to the confusion with which way to take, the group stayed separated in small groups of between 1 to 5 people. No problem, we all had radios and after a few minutes of giving out directions on the radio on which way we should take, we all decided to just be on our own at the top of Mt. Lemmon and have lunch wherever we find a good spot.

After lunch we slowly hiked our way down, waiting for a few slower hikers on the way. We all eventually re-group halfway down. We decided to take the Marshall Gulch trail part of the way down. This trail is pretty nice as it is set in a deeply incised stream channel. Due to the recent heavy rains, water was flowing in the stream. The weather did not really deteriorate: it stayed cloudy and foggy through out the hike but did not rain. We parted ways at the trailhead. Till next time.