Her folks moved to Tucson in the early 1960s. They lived in the East side of town and bought a house in a development that went bankrupt. That meant there were many acres of desert around their house at the outset.
Over time it got more and more crowded and paved. Hilly roads were flatted. Dirt roads were paved. People came and built and came and built and came and built. Her mom got tired of it and all the people.
She looked around, thought about moving to Alaska, but instead found the property we currently own. The reason they moved here was the views of the mountains! The northernmost peak in the Tucson range is Panther Peak.
Diane was shocked they would move so far out of town. Strangely, folks that grew up in Tucson feel that the East side of town is the best place to live. Folks like me who moved here, think they’d rather live anyplace in Tucson except the East side. It’s too far away from everything, which is ironic because we’re pretty remote where we currently are.
As a joke Diane named their place "Panther Peak Ranch." She even painted a sign for them and I think she hung it up when they were away. The sign is about 20 years old and is now on the barn. It’s fantastic!
I loved the name and when we decided to wise up and move out here I wanted to call the business Panther Peak Bindery. It is a delightfully ridiculous name! Diane had aspirations of a publishing company using that name but relented. Eventually. Life isn’t fair.
Panther Peak is the northernmost peak in the Tucson Mountains, though it can’t really be seen from Tucson because Safford Peak is just on the Tucson side of it. Our secret, perhaps. It’s 3500 feet above sea level, and we’re at 2400 feet.
Enjoy the views of it from our property.