Any Tucsonan, or former Tucsonan (like me) must be aware of the giant fire sweeping through the Catalina mountains right now. I’ve been watching the coverage on the Arizona Daily Star’s Web site for the last two days and was greeted this morning with the news that Summerhaven, and most of the Loma Linda cabins are gone. The fire is nowhere near contained and they expect that ALL the cabins as well (probably) as the ski area will also go before it’s all over.
My family has had a cabin in Loma Linda since the mid 70’s. We would go up the mountain almost every weekend. I learned to ski at Ski Valley in the late 70’s. In many ways, this cabin was more of a constant in my life than any house we lived in down in Tucson. And my father had just completed a remodeling job. It’s possible that our cabin is still standing, but not much of a chance it will still be standing by the end. I’m sitting here at my desk, on the other side of the country, with tears rolling down my face.
Goodbye Summerhaven. I’ll miss you.
Cricket