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La Casa del High Jinks

Coronado National ForestHouses completed in 1928Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in ArizonaNational Register of Historic Places in Pinal County, ArizonaPueblo Revival architecture in Arizona
High Jinks Ranch (4)
High Jinks Ranch (4)

La Casa del High Jinks is a historic house located on High Jinks Ranch in Pinal County, Arizona, southeast of the community of Oracle. The ranch was founded in 1912 by Buffalo Bill Cody, who ran a gold mine at the site. After Cody's death, the ranch was seized for unpaid taxes and subsequently sold to Lewis Claude Way. Way built the Pueblo style ranch house on the property, which he completed in 1928. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. High Jinks Ranch is surrounded by the Coronado National Forest and is a gateway to the Arizona Trail, an 800-mile (1,300 km) long trail that traverses the north–south length of Arizona. The ranch has vast views of the Galiuro Mountains and Bassett Peak (elev. 7,663 feet (2,336 m)). The closest town to the ranch is Oracle, a 20-minute drive away. Situated in the foothills of the north slope of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Oracle is well known for Biosphere 2, a large-scale experimental apparatus housing seven model ecosystems. Its mission was a two-year closure experiment with a crew of eight humans ("biospherians"). Long-term it was seen as a precursor to gain knowledge about the use of closed biospheres in space colonization. In addition to housing Biosphere 2, Oracle is remote enough to have received an International Dark Sky Park designation in 2014 from the International Dark-Sky Association. Oracle is far enough away from light pollution for numerous celestial bodies to become visible. The town has some of the darkest nights in the continental United States. The ranch is a one-hour drive from Tucson and Saguaro National Park, a two-hour drive from Phoenix, a 2.5-hour drive from Tombstone, and 3 hours from Bisbee.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article La Casa del High Jinks (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

La Casa del High Jinks
South Highjinks Road,

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N 32.571388888889 ° E -110.73833333333 °
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South Highjinks Road

Arizona, United States
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High Jinks Ranch (4)
High Jinks Ranch (4)
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Biosphere 2
Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre (1.27-hectare) structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed ecological system ever created.Constructed between 1987 and 1991, Biosphere 2 was originally meant to demonstrate the viability of closed ecological systems to support and maintain human life in outer space as a substitute for Earth's biosphere. It was designed to explore the web of interactions within life systems in a structure with different areas based on various biological biomes. In addition to the several biomes and living quarters for people, there was an agricultural area and work space to study the interactions between humans, farming, technology and the rest of nature as a new kind of laboratory for the study of the global ecology. Its mission was a two-year closure experiment with a crew of eight humans ("biospherians"). Long-term it was seen as a precursor to gaining knowledge about the use of closed biospheres in space colonization. As an experimental ecological facility it allowed the study and manipulation of a mini biospheric system without harming Earth's biosphere. Its seven biome areas were a 1,900-square-meter (20,000 sq ft) rainforest, an 850-square-meter (9,100 sq ft) ocean with a coral reef, a 450-square-meter (4,800 sq ft) mangrove wetlands, a 1,300-square-metre (14,000 sq ft) savannah grassland, a 1,400-square-meter (15,000 sq ft) fog desert, and two anthropogenic biomes: a 2,500-square-meter (27,000 sq ft) agricultural system and a human habitat with living spaces, laboratories and workshops. Below ground was an extensive part of the technical infrastructure. Heating and cooling water circulated through independent piping systems and passive solar input through the glass space frame panels covering most of the facility, and electrical power was supplied into Biosphere 2 from an onsite natural gas energy center.Biosphere 2 was only used twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system experiment: once from 1991 to 1993, and the second time from March to September 1994. Both attempts ran into problems including low amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of many animals and plants included in the experiment (though this was anticipated since the project used a strategy of deliberately "species-packing" anticipating losses as the biomes developed), group dynamic tensions among the resident crew, outside politics, and a power struggle over management and direction of the project. Nevertheless, the closure experiments set world records in closed ecological systems, agricultural production, health improvements with the high nutrient and low caloric diet the crew followed, and insights into the self-organization of complex biomic systems and atmospheric dynamics. The second closure experiment achieved total food sufficiency and did not require injection of oxygen.In June 1994, during the middle of the second experiment, the managing company, Space Biosphere Ventures, was dissolved, and the facility was left in limbo. Columbia University assumed management of the facility in 1995 and used it to run experiments until 2003. It then appeared to be in danger of being demolished to make way for housing and retail stores, but was taken over for research by the University of Arizona in 2007. The University of Arizona took full ownership of the structure in 2011.

Mount Lemmon Ski Valley
Mount Lemmon Ski Valley

Mount Lemmon Ski Valley is a recreational ski area in the U.S. state of Arizona, and the southernmost ski destination in the continental United States. Mount Lemmon Ski Valley is located on the slopes of Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains just north of Tucson, Arizona. It is part of the Coronado National Forest, located near the mountaintop village of Summerhaven. The summit is 9,157 feet (2,791 m) above sea level, and receives approximately 180 inches (4.6 m) of snow annually. Winter storms on Mount Lemmon are frequent, leaving untouched powder areas. The ski season on Mount Lemmon usually occurs between mid-December and April. The weather is usually mild enough to ski in a sweater and denim jeans, with temperatures ranging from 20 to 50 °F (−7 to 10 °C). There is no grooming at Mount Lemmon, which makes even the mild terrain challenging. Ski Valley is accessible via the Catalina Highway. Parking is limited at the ski area. The ski area is regularly closed some weekdays even when they have snow, but the specific days of closure vary. The highway is frequently closed for a day or so following substantial snowfalls until plows can clear the road. On April 12, 1973, Mount Lemmon received record snowfall totaling 26 inches. Restrictions limiting travel to vehicles with chains or four-wheel-drive above certain elevations may also be in effect during these times.The "back" road to Mount Lemmon from the town of Oracle, Arizona, is dirt and is closed from December through March, and so provides no access during the ski season. The ski lift runs year round, as a "Sky Ride" experience in the summertime, offering views of the Ski Valley area, forest and grass-covered slopes, and the long distance vistas of the mountains and valleys in the distance north of the Santa Catalinas.The Ski Valley is on United States Forest Service land, but is operated as a private concession by permit with the Forest Service.