I have walked the Bisbee 1000 Stairclimb (named after the approximate number of stairs on the walk) at least six times since September, walking and climbing the same course as the $100 race event in October every year. It starts at the Copperman Statue by the old Courthouse and starts with a downhill to Old Bisbee's Brewery Gulch before the first set of 78 stairs by the old city park. I ran the course a few times in the early 1990s, when registration was just $25. Now it costs $100 to run or walk the course, making it cost prohibitive except for the elite runners who come from all over to do this course. It has become a top race for the best runners, of which I'm no longer a part.
I know the route well and have featured it several times as a meet-up. It's a challenging course up and down stairs, along narrow streets and past remodeled mining shacks. Walking through Old Bisbee is like a throwback to Italy. People always say they are interested in doing the course, sign up for it,and then cancel out at the last minute. This happened again with Bill today, after he had wanted to do it on Sunday just a week ago! He was the reason I had scheduled it for 1pm today, so that we would start at the warmest time of the day and still have daylight at the finish. It was 56F at the start and sunny.
Luckily two good walkers did sign up, KimG and SteveT. Both are retired and I wasn't sure how fast this group would be, knowing that Steve had trouble making it up Carr peak on Thursday. Both are in better shape than they realize. Steve brought his dog Trace along, I brought Zeke, and the dogs were well behaved. Trace was on his leash the entire time. We did better than expected, finishing the course in just under 2:20 hours. We walked at a steady pace. The only time we had to stop for any time was after climbing the fifth set of stairs. Even I have trouble with that set.
I chatted with Kim a lot on today's walk. Steve was right behind us, his usually grumbly self while climbing up the stairs. I've learned to understand that he is this way on purpose, and not really grumbling. He's more mocking himself. He looked tired, but kept a steady pace. He didn't talk much today, but perhaps because I was with Kim for most of the walk. She is a talker.
The first set of stairs is at the .6 mile, climbing up and around the city park, then back up Brewery Gulch to set #2 near the old market store. The first mile mark is as one ascends back up Opera Drive. We met Justin here, a member of the Sierra Vista Hikers meetup, who lives right off the course with his two cats. We chatted a bit (to give us a break from the stairs) before continuing on. A retainer wall near his home is precariously close to collapsing. Cracked walls are a commonality around Bisbee. One heavy rainfall will collapse this wall off Opera Drive.
As expected, stairs #3 was the hardest, with 181 stairs. It's the longest of any of the set, but because #4 and #5 are right next to each other and divided only by Tembly Avenue, I consider this duo the hardest with 229 steep stairs combined. Once we made it to the top of the 5th set of stairs we had an easy rest of the way. The views out toward the Lavender Mine pit from High Road are scenic. One sees the spread of the old town along the crumbly hillsides. For newcomers to Bisbee, this course shows most of real Bisbee, from small hillside shacks to exquisite mansions and abandoned VW buses in side streets. The VW buses never seem to leave their spot.
The second mile contains three sets of stairs in quick succession, totaling 410 steps. This is the highest amount of stairs in the 4.6-miles. The rest of the stairs are spread out over the course. If anyone can finish set #5, they can finish the race. After the fifth set, it's downhill back to the Copperman statue before it ascends gently up Tombstone Canyon past the Circle K convenience store to set #6 up Laundry Hill. Set #7 comes at the 4th mile, and sets #8 and #9 are close together but aren't long. I've gotten used to this layout and it doesn't exhaust me anymore to do this course, but #4 and #5 together do still make me pause for a bit. Zeke had no trouble, though.
Many of the mean dogs I've learned to recognize were not out today. The white heeler on Adams street was on his balcony, the mean chihuahuas in Moon canyon were not to be seen. Dogs barked from a distance but none of them were a direct nuisance to us. I saw more cats this time than dogs. It was a quiet walk as far as meeting locals this time. I didn't notice anything new on today's walk, although I always enjoy seeing the herd of ironwrought javelina dressed up for the upcoming holidays; today they wore red and green Christmas caps. Trees for the most part were naked now.
Sunday afternoon is when stores close and tourists leave to return to Phoenix or Tucson. Even the Screaming Banshee pizza place by the Copperman Statue was quiet until Kim and I came in at 3:20pm with a nice two-seater table near the window, so that I could watch Zeke stare back at me from the Ford Escape. Steve had a meeting with a hunting friend and didn't join us, but I will be seeing him again for Tuesday's morning walk up Carr Canyon Road.
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