Mural Hill with Ellen and Fritz

The initial plan was to hike Chiva Falls but I was running late again this morning. I was supposed to meet Ellen at 7am by the Pizza Hut Bistro in town. I got there just before 7:30am. When I asked her if she were ok to hike Mural Hill instead, she gladly agreed. Like me, she didn't want to spend four hours round trip driving. Ellen had never been up Mural Hill. Fritz was my canine companion. 

It was a cold morning for me. It was a mere 39F when we started. I kept my flannel shirt on as I never warmed up. It only got to 55F when we were done. 

Fritz did great once we were on the trail and away from town. He never strayed far from me. The cool breeze kept him from overheating in the sun. A few times he caught a scent, but never took off. 

It had been a while since I hiked this trail. I had no trouble finding my way. It was well-maintained, with no overgrown catclaw piercing our nylon clothing. 

There were no wildflowers to color the landscape, though.  All I noticed were some lower fields of green where rain water probably saturated the soil.  

The views are rapturing. I like the perspective of the Mule Mountains along this route, mostly abandoned mining roads dotted with ocotillo (which were all beginning to bloom). Most views are to the north and east with several other reefs nearby.   "This is caving country" commented Ellen at one point.

It took us 1:30 hours and 3.5 miles to make it to the reef overlook. We gained nearly 400 feet in the last hal-mile and most of that was scurrying up the steep slanted reef.  Total elevation gain was 1900'.

We took a short break on top. I fed Fritz some food and gave him water (there was none along the way. He explored the reef, gazed out over the cliffs, but just wanted to relax a bit. We signed the registration book kept in a plastic jar on top.

We didn't linger for long. We turned around, going back the way we came, and were back at our cars in three hours. I put Fritz in the Honda while Ellen and I stopped at the Bisbee Coffee company where I had a Mexican mocha, and then 30 minutes later we went our separate ways. 

 

I stopped for lunch at Dot's Diner, a place I had always wanted to try out. It did not overwhelm me. My cheeseburger was good, but not worth $17.64. I was seated under a tent canopy where the cool breeze kept me from warming up. I finished my time in Bisbee with a quick walk through the town's historic cemetery next door, burial site to one of the early prospectors, George Warren. There is one section of the cemetery dedicated to Eastern European settlers with Slavic names as well. 

I took Gretchen out on her walk at 7pm. We walked for two miles. At 7:26pm, as scheduled, we saw the launch of the SpaceX satellite from Vandenburg AFB in California, 600 miles to the west. The bright contrail it left across the sky as the rocket traveled south was impressive. It lingered for a good 30 minutes.  This was the third launch for SpaceX and my first one to witness.