As an amateur astrophotographer, I could not spend a few days in Tucson without paying a visit to Kitt Peak. The peak is
close to town, south-west of it along US 86, barely 1h30 from town. At least 12 telescopes are set up on the mountain, the largest being a 4
meters telescope.
The road to get there is a 12 miles easy climb along the side of the mountain. The view all around is impressive. The problem
is that because it is a professional observatory, it is closed to the public after 4pm. The gate at the bottom was blocking half of the road, so we
drove up anyway. At the top, nobody was there. All the tourists had gone even though the sky was perfectly clear, and no one was asking us why we
were trespassing the closed road. Worried that we would be completely blocked eventually, we drove back down and didn’t wait for the sunset. We didn’t
see any of the telescopes from close, just the domes spread on the crest. The elevation there is 7000 feet and the weather is usually very clear,
ideal for star gazing.
Instead of watching the sunset and then the stars from the top, we searched for a good place with saguaros in the foreground
and a good view on distant mountains. It is not easy because the region is very flat and there are very few roads. 5 miles from the Kitt Peak road is
an Indian road going to a very small village, San Pedro. The road is a little bit higher than the plain in one spot and is fine for a nice picture of
the sunset with cacti in the foreground.
Anyway, a visit to Kitt Peak during the day is worth it if you are in Tucson for some time. It is not far, there is a good
view from the top and the visit should be interesting.
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