At 60F and clear skies, it was the perfect day for an afternoon hike. Leaving a buffer to ensure it didn't get dark, I had about 3 hours of hiking time once I finished getting ready and driving across town. I wanted to actually finish something (it's no fun to hike out to an arbitrary location on a trail and just turn around), so I needed a pretty short hike.

Fortunately I found exactly what I was looking for in the Babad Do'ag (wtf is that?) trail off the Mount Lemmon Highway. At 4 miles of length and 1100ft of elevation gain, it would be short enough but still provide some challenge for my heavy ass!

The trail continued alongside the highway for a little before breaking away and climbing up a ridge.