TRAVEL

THE BEST DAY TRIPS FROM TUCSON

Text by Joseph Stocker Photographs by James Tallon If you're in the mood for spelunking or snow skiing or spending the day in some other out-of-the-ordinary pursuit, Tucson is where you want to be.

In the city or close by, you can stroll among the great saguaros, visit one of the world's best zoological parks, tour famous astronomy centers, explore Old West towns and pioneer missions, check out movie sets, or seek adventure in a wildlife preserve.

Tucson flourishes in beautiful big desert and statuesque mountains. It is surrounded by numerous scenic and historic attractions, most only an hour's drive away.

Here's a look at some of the area's highlights:

TO THE NORTH

Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon. There can't be too many desert cities in the world where one can leave on a warm winter's day, drive for an hour, and go skiing. Tucson is such a city. The skiing place indeed, the southernmost ski resort in the United States is Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalinas. Elevation: 9,157 feet, nearly 7,000 feet above Tucson.

It's also a place for summer escape with lots of hiking and backpacking and a small inn tucked amidst tall ponderosa pines.

Drive north on Wilmot Road to Tanque Verde Road to reach the Mount Lemmon Highway. Before you get there, you'll find another turnoff into Sabino Canyon, a favorite Tucson getaway for picnicking, hiking, or just enjoying a pretty spot. Here ageless mountain embraces forest lushness, all of which has been attracting Tucson's nature lovers for several generations. If peace and quiet and gurgling streams are your turn-on, Sabino Canyon is for you. No cars

The rare masked bobwhite quail survives in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge; "gunfighters" perform at Old Tucson, a movie lot and theme park; at 6,875 feet, Kitt Peak Observatory stands high above the clouds; blacktailed prairie dogs play at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum; also at the museum, visitors watch desert bighorn sheep.

TO THE WEST

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. Once counted among the largest cattle ranches in the state, this 112,500-acre refuge located just north of the Mexican border was purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the endangered masked bobwhite quail, which was plentiful before turn-of-the-century overgrazing and drought wiped out its habitat. The refuge is set in the grasslands of the Altar Valley, dominated by the Baboquivari Mountains.

You can visit the refuge by driving west on State Route 86 to Three Points, or Robles Junction, then 38 miles south on State Route 286 to a turnoff marked with a refuge sign. Two miles more on a gravel road and you're at refuge headquarters, the old adobe ranch buildings. There are no services, so bring a picnic lunch. You may not see the masked bob-white; it's elusive and still scarce. But the refuge has deer, antelope, javelina, and many bird species.

Kitt Peak and Sells. A forest of telescopes rests atop a mountain in southwestern Arizona. This is Kitt Peak National Observatory with more than 20 telescopes operated by National Optical Astronomy Observatories for a consortium of universities.

If you're an astronomer wanting a special look at the sun, you can apply for time on the McMath Solar Telescope, the largest of its kind in the world. Here also is the 158-inch Mayall Telescope, one of the largest optical telescopes in the country, which can spot objects so distant their light requires 10 billion years to reach Earth. The Mayall also has greater sensitivity and accuracy than other such telescopes.

Kitt Peak is open from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. daily except on December 24 and 25, Thanksgiving, and New Year's Day. Take State Route 86 west from Tucson to State Route 386, which leads to the observatories. A caution for those with respiratory problems: uphill walking is required in the thin atmosphere of 6,875 feet. For tour information, call (602) 325-9200.

Seventeen miles to the west is Sells, tribal headquarters of the Tohono O'odham. Their desert reservation is the nation's second largest, after that of the Navajo. You

TO THE WEST COMING YOUR WAY IN THE MONTHS AHEAD COLORADO PLATEAU

Once again Arizona Highways will be mailing its greeting card to the world. This year the special issue opens with marvelous aerial views of the wonders of the desert, sky islands, and the Colorado Plateau. We'll also take readers along on a journey to the crumbling old mission of Tumacácori and the monasteries of southern Arizona. Plus we'll experience snow in the desert and hike in Phoenix's North Mountain Preserve. In December. We kick off the new year with a special article and photographic display of the works of Ansel Adams which appeared in early issues of the magazine. There's also a colorful travel adventure into the heart of Havasu Canyon with time out to admire Mexican-Colonial Furniture now experiencing another revival. We listen attentively to the recollections of several 100-year-old pioneers plus stand in awe of those mysterious water-worn caverns deep in the Earth called Slot Canyons. We wrap up things with a day hike on Wind Cave Trail in Usery Mountain Park east of Phoenix. In January. Travel is highlighted this month when we visit Arizona's quaint historic hotels, then trek north to the chain of lakes to explore the past at Tonto National Monument. We also meet up with those talented mules of

SLOT CANYONS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL

the Grand Canyon and share adventures with a writer and photographer exploring the wonders of the Superstition Wilderness. We walk back into the Middle Ages, too, at the Renaissance Festival and meet Mr. Matteson who steps out of the childhood of one of our favorite authors. We conclude with a day hike of the month through Sweetwater Canyon. In February.

TAKE A TIP FROM SANTA BE A HOLIDAY HERO

Give Arizona Highways this holiday season and you'll be a gift-giving hero. How do you think Santa Claus got his big-time reputation for Christmas presents? Each month Arizona Highways unfolds gripping tales of adventure - Old West legends, lost treasures, the great Apache chiefs, the gunfighters, and ghost towns. And always those great scenic photographs. And if you don't get the magazine, give yourself a subscription. It won't cure a toothache, but it'll sure brighten your day.

Your first one-year subscription is just $16. Each additional subscription is only $14. (Foreign subscriptions are $19.95.) And we'll send you a scenic card so you can personalize your gift.

To subscribe, use the attached order card or call toll free: 1 (800) 543-5432 Or 258-1000 in the Phoenix area.

Continued from page 39 you can shop for Tohono crafts, especially their fine baskets, at the trading post on the main street, at a crafts shop in the new shopping center, and at Quijotoa, 20 miles west.

If you choose to visit the westside district of the Saguaro National Monument (described below), you can make a full day of it by stopping at Old Tucson and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The three attractions are in Tucson Mountain Park, west on Ajo Way from Interstate Route 19 to Kinney Road; then north.

In fact, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum could be worth a full day by itself. The New York Times called it "the most distinctive zoo in the United States," and the British Broadcasting Corporation filmed it as one of the seven best in the world. It's more than a zoo, though. It's an aquarium and a botanical garden and, overall, a demonstration of the fact that there's more to the desert than heat and centipedes. Indeed, the seemingly lifeless desert is full of life. The museum shows how all the elements of the Sonoran Desert plants, animals, rocks, sky are intertwined and interdependent.

New displays are added frequently. Recently, for example, the museum built a mountain habitat for such animals as the mountain lion, black bear, and Mexican gray wolf. There's a delightful hummingbird aviary to keep you coming back again and again. The museum is open daily from 7:30 A.M. until 6:00 P.M.; however, no admission tickets are sold after 5:00 P.M.

Just to the east is Old Tucson, the famous movie studio and amusement park. Founded in 1939 as the setting for the Columbia Pictures shoot-'em-up, Arizona, the "town" has been the setting for more than 100 movies and such old favorite television shows as Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Little House on the Prairie. Kids will enjoy rides, soundstage tours, and blazing gunfights. Open daily from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.; admission is $8.95 for adults and $4.95 for ages 4 through 11. (Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.) Telephone (602) 883-0100, ext. 282. Also near the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is the Signal Hill picnic area, where you'll find one of the state's best collections of prehistoric Indian petroglyphs rock carvings as old, perhaps, as 10,000 years.

TO THE EAST

Saguaro National Monument. The tall pleated saguaro is the largest of all the cacti that grow in the United States, and here is where it grows best. The monument has two sections on opposite sides of the city. The oldest, Saguaro East (also called the Rincon Mountain District), comprises nearly 63,000 acres and boasts specimens towering 50 feet, weighing 8 tons or more, and thought to be as much as 200 years old. Here, a hike to the mountaintops, which rise from 2,500 feet above sea level to 8,660 feet, will take you through seven life zones, ranging from the cacti of the Lower Sonoran zone to the aspen and fir of the Canadian zone. The western section contains younger, denser growth. Visitor centers in both provide directions and literature. In late spring, the saguaros sprout their big waxy white flowers. In addition to their sentinel-like qualities, saguaros also serve as home to wildlife: the Gila woodpecker, the gilded flicker, the cactus wren, the elf owl, and others.

"How do the birds land on the spiny saguaro without getting hurt?" visitors ask. "Very carefully," say the monument rangers.

To reach the Rincon Mountain District telephone (602) 296-8576 take Interstate Route 10 east to the Houghton Road exit, go north on Houghton, and then follow the signs. The trip takes about15 minutes from the interstate.

To reach Saguaro West the Tucson Mountain District telephone (602) 8836366, take Interstate Route 19 south from Tucson, turn west on State Route 86 to Kinney Road, go north on Kinney 1 mile to

(CLOCKWISE FROM

FAR LEFT) Colossal

Cave, where 39

miles of natural

tunnels have been

mapped, in territorial days

surely was a hideout for

criminals in flight from the law.

Today, passages more than 3/4ths of a mile in length are open to tourists. A rustic stone structure housing a gift shop and snack bar marks the entrance to the limestone cave. BOTH BY RANDY PRENTICE Saguaro National Monument provides tourists with thousands of acres in which to roam.

The oldest section, Saguaro East, or the Rincon Mountain District, alone comprises about 63,000 acres. In spring, the flowering cacti are at their best. Both units combined range through seven life zones, from a base of 2,500 feet above sea level to mountain heights of 8,660 feet. Animal life, like the curious mule deer, is profuse throughout.

the monument entrance, a 30-minute drive from Tucson.

Colossal Cave. Eleven miles south of Saguaro National Monument's Rincon Mountain District is Colossal Cave. This dry limestone cave is a wonderful place to visit with children, who are enchanted by the eerie passages and the guides' tales of outlaw escapes. The tours, which leave every 45 minutes, cover 3/4 mile, but more than 39 miles of passageways have been mapped. From Saguaro National Monument, turn south on Old Spanish Trail. From Tucson, take Interstate Route 10 east to the Vail-Wentworth Exit, 22 miles south of downtown. The cave is 5 miles north-east of this exit.

TO THE SOUTH

San Xavier del Bac. "The White Dove of the Desert" is visited by tens of thousands annually. The famous mission is a registered national historic landmark. Bac was the Indian village where Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino founded the mission in 1700. The building is a functioning Roman Catholic Church. The threeto six-foot-thick walls keep the church cool in a desert summer's searing heat. Inside, the walls are covered with carvings, painted images, and frescoes.

To get to San Xavier, take Interstate Route 19 south from Tucson, turn at exit 92 and go west 1 mile, then follow the signs. It's a 20-minute trip from downtown Tucson. The mission is open from 9:00 A.M. until 6:00 P.M. Telephone (602) 294-2624.

Patagonia. This quintessentially Western town is located in a region which, with its grassy rolling hills and tall trees, looks more like Oklahoma than Oklahoma. Moviemakers thought so because they filmed the musical of that name nearby.

In addition to peace, quiet, and small-town ambience, Patagonia hosts the Museum of the Horse. Here you can find old carriages, wagons, saddles, and some fine Western art. Centerpiece of the tiny community is the 1904 railroad depot, restored and used as city hall.

Take Interstate Route 10 to the State Route 83 turnoff; then pick up State Route 82 from Sonoita to Patagonia.

Close by is the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, the first Nature Conservancy sanctuary established in Arizona and home - or at least a stopover - for more than 240 bird species.

The preserve is open daily from 6:30 A.M. until 6:30 P.M. A Saturday morning tour of the property begins at 9:00 A.M. From State Route 82, turn west onto Fourth Avenue in Patagonia, follow Fourth one-half mile, turn south on Pennsylvania, and it's one mile to the parking area. Telephone (602) 394-2400.

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory. On Mount Hopkins, high in the Santa Rita Mountains, sits the largest field installation of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its pièce de résistance is the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT), third largest in the world (after Palomar and, the largest, a Soviet telescope in the Caucasus).

The MMT is really six telescopes in one, housed in a four-story building that rotates with the telescope mount. It enables astronomers to peer beyond the galaxy. Guided tours take place Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from March through November. For reservations, which are necessary, call (602) 398-2432, (from Tucson, 670-6741). To get there, take Interstate Route 19 south to exit 48 (Arivaca Junction); turn under the freeway to the frontage road. Go south one mile to Amado Road; turn left at the gas station and proceed one block to the field installation office. A bus takes visitors up to the observatory on the mountain.

Tubac and Tumacacori. About 40 miles south of Tucson on Interstate Route 19, Tubac is a place of history and art. It dates to the mid-18th century when Spaniards built a presidio, or fort, here to protect colonists against Apache raiders; its remains are preserved at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. It's the oldest European settlement in the state. Today Tubac is an artists' colony. Shops sell fine art, crafts, and Mexican wares. Most popular event of the year: the Tubac Festival of the Arts in February.

Three miles to the south is Tumacacori National Monument, the remains of another historic mission. Ravaged by time and treasure hunters, it still evokes visions of Spanish missionaries and their Indian congregants.

As you can see, the variety in and around Tucson is immense. So get a good night's sleep. There's much more to do tomorrow.