I believe in tradition. Fortunately, Jim does too. We've been together for over 20 years and in that time we've built up many traditions. When something works especially well for us, we tend to repeat it, practice it, hone it.
One of my favorite traditions is my birthday hike. My birthday is in late May just as the desert heats up and the mountains beckon us. For many years now, we have driven the 24 miles up the mountain for my traditional birthday breakfast and hike.
Mt. Lemmon used to have several restaurants but since the Aspen Fire in 2003, the only restaurant left that serves breakfast is The Iron Door at the ski area. It has always been popular but has become THE place for a sit-down meal.
Lots of motorcycle and bicycle riders stop at the restaurant before heading back to Tucson. Lines of motorcycles can be seen parked outside the restaurant or several tables of folks dressed in bicycle gear may greet you inside.
The Iron Door is where tradition dictates that Jim treat me to breakfast. I order the pancakes with sausage, he orders the eggs with hashbowns. He gets my sausage and I get some of his potatoes.
Tradition dictates this.
After breakfast, we walk across to the ski area and check out the condition of the slopes and shops. This past year was a good one for Ski Valley. The area had lots of snow and the slopes were open for many days. Some years, Ski Valley doesn't open at all. Snow can be fickle this far south.
We had decided to hike the Sunset Trail from Marshall Gulch and then do part of Butterfly Trail. Marhall Gulch is a piece of paradise. It's at the end of the main road in Summerhaven, the village at the top of Mt. Lemmon. The picnic tables are almost always full on summer weekends and water usually flows in the creek that wanders through the grounds. This is where we catch Sunset Trail. The trail is short. It travels through forest and over rock formations with spectacular views of the surrounding peaks from many outcrops. It ends in an area of cabins, most of which survived the fire.
From Sunset Trail, we cross the Catalina Highway to catch Butterfly Trail. The trail leads to an area that used to be shaded by tall trees. Following the trail was like going down, down, down into a deep forest lost in time.
That was before the Aspen Fire. Lots of heavy burning took place in this area and, for awhile, the trail was simply gone. It's been restored now and again is a favorite for hikers.
The devastation brought by the Aspen Fire can be seen in this picture of Jim. Previously, views of other mountain ranges were few and far between on the trail because of the dense forest. Now, other peaks are visible during most of the hike. The ferns, however, remain as thick as ever.
On the hike back we took a different route. Well, acutally, we missed the trailhead. But Jim has a knack for finding a lost trail and eventually he led us over a hill and right back to where we needed to be.
As always, we had a great time and plan to keep up the tradition of my mountain breakfast and hike for a long time.