It's a Team's Life

Sentinel Peak is better known as “A” Mountain in Tucson AZ

By Linda Caffee
Posted Feb 24th 2019 8:28AM

Sentinel Peak is better known as “A” Mountain in Tucson AZ

A Mountain is hard to miss when driving through Tucson, AZ as it sits to the west of I-10 and downtown Tucson.

The “A” was started on Sentinel Peak in 1914 and completed in 1916 as a college class project.  The “A” is 70’ wide. 160’ tall, and is usually white.  At times it has been painted black, red white and blue, green on Saint Patrick’s Day, and at times an opposing football team will sneak in and paint the “A” their team colors, which would be no easy feat.

I was born in Tucson many years ago and the mountain has always been part of my life.  When we moved with my mom away from Tucson and would travel back to see grandparents I knew when I saw the “A” we were almost there.  I can only remember one time driving up the mountain and seeing the beautiful view of the surrounding areas.

Finally, the opportunity happened and it was time to hike Sentinel Peak.  Bob, Texas, and I drove to the mountain and were planning on stopping at the parking area about half way up and hiking up to see the “A”.  The only way to get to this point is to hike.  Well, we were so anxious we arrived before the park opened and now we had to hike from the bottom up to the road to the trail up to the “A”.

The road is about one-half mile and is a steady climb once started.  Texas was excited and patiently waiting as we stopped a couple times to give our legs a break and to get our breath back.  She was really excited once we reached the trail and started the climb to the top.  We could see the “A” from the road and see how big it really is.  The “A” is much deeper than I had ever imagined.  From the peak, it is a little harder to see the “A” looking down at it.

After a few pictures, it was time to go back down and I think going back down might have been harder than going up!  We did go a lot faster as we headed down and as we drove away and looked back we had smiles as we knew we had finally climbed the mountain.  I will always look at Sentential Peak differently in the future as I know what the “A” looks like close up.

Not sure that I would want to try this drive in a straight truck but a van could easily do it.  The road is narrow and there is no place to turn around.  The parking area is very large and if I was going to try this in the truck I would do it when the park first opened at 8 am and be out of there before it got very busy.  There are walkers and bikes on the narrow road and they would be hard to get around during the busy times.

Bob & Linda Caffee

TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO

Expediters since January 2005

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