Mount Lemmon Summerhaven Area

Author's Comments

The drive itself is part of the photograph. You leave Tucson in saguaro and ocotillo and ninety degrees, and an hour later you are stepping out of the car into pine duff and fifty-five degrees and the smell of conifer that does not belong to the desert at all. That dislocation is what Mount Lemmon offers and what is worth photographing - the fact that this forest exists at all, floating above the Sonoran like a mistake the geology never corrected. October is the month. Mid to late, depending on the year and the rain. The aspens go yellow in pockets rather than sweeps, which means you have to walk for the photograph rather than pull over and point. I prefer it that way. The detail shots are honestly what I leave with most often - a single aspen trunk against the dark of a Douglas fir, a cluster of leaves caught in morning backlight, the way the light comes down through the canopy in long vertical shafts before the sun is fully above the ridge. Go early. The drive up takes an hour and there is no gas along the way, so leave Tucson before five if you want to be in position for first light. The Catalina Highway climbs through five biological zones on the way up and each one wants its own stop, but discipline yourself on the ascent and save the photography for the descent when the light has matured. Summerhaven itself is small and quiet and not really the subject. The forest around it is. Park, walk in any direction, and let the cold air and the unfamiliar trees do their work.

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