Rains were forecasted for early this afternoon. Thad, a new member of our local hiking meetup, had the Bisbee loop scheduled for this morning at 8:30am. Four other hikers had cancelled, but I and two more, including ColeM, decided to take a chance and knock this hike out before the rain. And we did! Zeke came along. Two of the men were US Border Patrol officers and used to hiking fast.
We started promptly at 8:30am, walked uphill through Brewery Gulch, then turned uphill on Mulheim Road to OK Street, which then skirted the northside of Young Blood hill (where all the shrines are). We were going at a fast pace and even I could feel my heart beat. Even ColeM said I was going fast. I thank all the hiking I have been doing this month, and perhaps cutting back on beer has also something to do with this. (My last beer was December 30th). The fact is, I hike so much better when temperatures are between 55-70F; my body struggles when it's hot and dry. Needless to say, weather the past 30 days has been ideal for hiking.
This loop hike is notorious for starting out steeply, but it does mellow out at the two mile mark, and levels off nicely once on the ridgeline and returning to Old Bisbee. The highest elevation is 6103', only 971 feet higher than the starting point. We never saw anyone else on this trail.
The sky was spotted with high cirrus clouds, but there was no sign of rain coming. We didn't see any storms looming until we were done with the hike, timing in at 1:35 hours (!). Even Thad said this was his best time yet. I really liked the challenge myself, as normally I slow down as hike host to make sure everyone finishes. Thad will be hosting these fast hikes every other Saturday and I will try to join him on a few of them.
I stopped at the local Safeway on the way home, to get Zeke some raw meat which he shared with his packmates back home. This week's sale was Beef Chuck 7-Bone roast for $1.97/pound. I bought a gallon of Arnold Palmer Iced Tea and then chilled once I got back home, where the clouds over the Huachuca Mountains definitely looked stormier. It rained briefly at 3:15pm when the scattered thunderstorms were supposed to begin, but even those fizzled out fast. The dogs kept coming into the bedroom to look at me, hoping I would get up and take them all for a brisk walk. At 4:25pm I finally relented and took four of them for their walk. I took a second chance at taking the dogs for their walk at Oak Estates at 4:35pm, getting two more miles in. The cold winds had picked up and the clouds created some dramatic colors and designs across the sky, but it remained dry until after 6pm. I really lucked out with today's weather.
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