Pine trees among the cactus. There are thunderstorms that you can see and hear but not feel. Your emotions run through your veins like your blood after a marathon. If there is another place like it in the world, I don’t know where it could be. The Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson Arizona are the Mount Sinai of the United States. Specifically, Mount Lemmon. Your journey begins at the base of the Catalina Mountains just past the aptly named, “Bear Canyon Road”. Once you reach the Catalina Highway, you begin your nine thousand foot ascent towards heaven. The Catalina Highway isn’t really much of a highway. It winds and curves tumultuously, there are two lanes, and both seem smaller than the last alley you drove upon. As you drive, you can see that something is different about the air; it lacks smog. Even though you cannot see the air, it feels pure. Maybe it is the fact that Tucson is becoming smaller and smaller behind you and you are able to breath a little easier. Maybe it is because the temperature seems to be dropping and the coolness of the air is refreshing to your lungs. Regardless, there is a sense that you are healthier and you continue your quest up the side of this lumbering mountain. A little more than half way up, the scenery changes from brush and Saguaro cactus to the beginnings of a lush forest enhanced by the most full-bodied, towering pine trees you have ever laid your eyes on. This area is marked by a geological oddity of sculptured rocks worn by wind and time. The elevation you are at is about 6,600 feet above sea level. The wind seems to have picked up by the time you arrive at this area. If you stop your car at the “pull-off”, as the locals like to call these emergency-stopping areas, you will find Windy Point. This area of the mountain certainly lives up to its name. The warm breeze briskly brushes your hair and forces itself into your chest to remind you that you are ...
