Bisbee, AZ

We took a drive down to the historic mining community of Bisbee. It is 23 miles south of Tombstone and sits at an elevation of 5,538 feet. Bisbee is the county seat for Cochise County. According to the 2010 census, the population of Bisbee is 5,575. In 1910 when the mines were booming, the population reached 9,019!

To enter the magical community of Bisbee via Highway 80 you have to go through the Bisbee tunnel!

The view is spectacular throughout the community! There is the historic downtown, homes built up the hillsides, deep open pit mines that are a brilliant copper color, and mountain peaks all around!

This is the downtown and nearby homes. 

This is the Copper Queen Mine, as seen from the highway going past the downtown. If you continue on Highway 80 past the copper colored mound in the center of the picture, you will enter a residential area. The homes are from the early mining days.  It is pleasant just to drive through the community experiencing the feel of days gone by! 

There is a parking lot off the highway where you can stop to peer deep into this mining pit. Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold, and silver mining town in 1880 and was named after Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the Copper Queen Mine. Turquoise was also found in this area with a special quality that's become known as Bisbee Turquoise. 

Today Bisbee is known for its artist community. The only large attraction besides the community itself is the Copper Queen Mine tour.

This is a picture we took outside the edge of town. Check out the long mound of slag to the forefront of the mountains. Homes throughout the community are built right up against these slag piles. The yellow home with the red roof that you see off in the distance at the end of this road is the historic home of an early 1900s copper baron.

This is Loma Linda mansion built in 1907 for Walter Douglas, who was known as "The Copper King". In the 1970s this mansion became the Loma Linda Lodge Health Retreat and was a party spot for rock stars! The eleven bedroom mansion is currently on the market for $1,200,000! Roy and I had to wonder if all those mounds of copper ore around town help people's arthritis like some people feel copper bracelets do! We could feel dust on our lips and taste the metallic flavor just from driving through town!  

This is the town hub in the old downtown. There are some small markets in the area, but it seems for most shopping, residents would have to go to Sierra Vista 24 miles away.

The downtown streets are narrow, but we comfortably toured Bisbee in our truck. There are chauffeured golf cart tours of various durations that provide narration on the history of Bisbee. We heard from friends that they enjoyed the golf cart tour they took and would enjoy going back for the longer tour.

Here is one more look at the interesting historical community of Bisbee!

Javelinas: You Decide!

After writing the post “Be Aware And Be Safe” I came across a poignant article telling about several javalenas attacking a woman walking her three Chihuahuas in Tucson, AZ. I felt the incident told a lot about the good and bad of javalena behavior. I’ll do a recap of the incident and then you can decide whether walking your dogs in the desert is worth the risk of an encounter.  As for our two dogs, I’ve decided they can enjoy their runs in the fenced-in play yard provided by the r.v. park and save their wilderness romps to states without javalenas!

At 7:15 a.m. on a December day Gordon and her three Chihuahuas took what was to be a 15 minute walk down their road, but quickly turned into a daylong nightmare when she and her dogs were attacked by a pack of javelenas! It started with one javelina sighting.  The javelina charged across the street, but it didn't seem as though it was going to attack. Gordon had encountered javlenas on her daily walks before and it had always been uneventful. Upon seeing the javalena, Gordon’s dogs puffed up into a confrontational stance with hackles raised.  Maybe they sensed something she didn't.  

Seconds after she picked up her dogs to calm and protect them, eleven more javelinas seemed to appear out of thin air and surrounded Gordon, age 34.

The attack was a blur, as one javelina bit her leg causing her to fall and drop the dogs. The javelinas trampled on her, but only to go after the threatening dogs and not to maul her, which they could have easily done. One of her dogs, Peatree, became a main target and was thrown about like a rag doll. Despite Gordon’s leg wound, she was able to run to a neighbor’s home to call her husband for help. The javelinas did not pursue her. Her dog, Tino,  suffered a large bite on the neck, but no further damage. Her dog Bebe was not injured, as it froze and did not engage in the fight. After the attack, which lasted only minutes, Peatree was taken to a vet where she received surgery for a broken pelvis and damaged organs. While this small dog sustained critical injuries during an attack by a dozen javelinas, it’s quite surprising she wasn’t killed on the spot or totally ripped into pieces given the vicious reputation that javalenas have! Peatree did, however, later die from the serious injuries to her small body. Tino received stitches to her neck, but again I’m surprised that given the size difference between one Chihuahua and a dozen javelina that a wound to the neck is all the damage she sustained. Gordon’s leg was treated and she underwent a preventative treatment for possible rabies. Gordon said she didn’t notice any baby javalinas in the group, which would have caused the pack to be particularly defensive. The Arizona Department of Game and Fish felt the attack may have been instigated by a young inexperienced javalena that overreacted to the threat it felt from the dogs. When envisioning the possibility of a similar encounter between javelinas and our two dogs, I know Sugar, our gold shepherd would fight to end, and therefore, sustain serious injuries.  Prin, our Malamute mix who knows nothing of fighting, would probably run in her playful loops when snapped at thinking it was game. Both Prin and Sugar are extremely fast runners that I know could outrun javelina, if only they would run and keep going.  I had taken false comfort in the image of them running to safety.  Based on Gordon’s reported encounter, I’ve decided a javelina pack encounter isn’t worth the gamble, as it’s one of those situations that’s okay until the time that it isn’t! I don’t want to experience the desert walk that doesn’t turn out okay! How about you?          

Be Aware And Be Safe!

When we first relocated to the southwestern desert states, we were on high alert for encountering rattlesnakes. With time it became a natural routine to scan ahead of our footsteps. We were advised not to step over logs or large rocks when hiking, but to step up on them to see the other side before stepping down.  If you encounter a snake, stand still and then slowly back away. If bitten, I've read that the only thing you should do is stay as calm as possible and wrap the injured limb with a bandage to reduce the swelling. You have 14 hours to get to a medical facility for anti-venom.

It's advised when hiking with dogs to keep them on a leash, so that whatever they kick-up doesn't come running after them, as they run back to you!!! We don't keep our dogs on a leash for a hike, as that seems to defeat the fun, but I do try to keep them on the path. With smaller dogs I would be more likely to keep them on a leash and close to me for fear of them being grabbed by a predator.

One of the large threats in the southwest desert are javalina. We have been repeatedly warned as to their ill tempers and viciousness! They roam in packs with as many as 20! The Arizona Game and Fish Department describes them as being active from dusk to dawn and on cooler days. During the heat of the day they bed down in the shade. They tend to travel up washes. They are nearsighted which accounts in part for their willingness to attack first. If you spot them ahead of your walk, slowly back away. If they charge, you are to stomp your feet and made as much noise as possible. No problem, as jumping about screaming would come naturally to me! I'm considering getting an air horn to carry on desert walks. I considered carrying pepper spray. The Arizona Game and Fish Department website recommends carrying a spray bottle with vinegar or a weakened amonina solution for spritzing in the air as a deterrent to an approaching javalina, but not to spray them in the face! It sounds like they will run if not cornered.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department website reports that most incidents where a bite from a javalena is sustained by a human is the result of people feeding them. It is recommended that food and water not be placed out for them, as mountain lions are their natural predators and you will be attracting them as well! Although I have no doubt that javalena can be as vicious as any wild animal with big teeth when threatened, I do believe their reputation is exaggerated. Here are two incidents we know of since being in Arizona. A woman at our r.v. park had her Golden Retriever tied outside her camper. When she stepped out to get her dog she noticed a javalena under the camper.  Neither her or the dog were attacked. When in Tombstone around 4:00 p.m. and planning to walk about 3 blocks to a restaurant on the edge of town, we were seriously warned by a local that we should not walk the distance, but get in our car and drive it, because of the vicious javalena! Given the time of day and being on a city street we felt assured that a javalena attack was not likely and made our walk! When joking with the restaurant staff about the warning, we were told that that javalena sometimes are on the street at night and that at most we might get a scare as one runs by! I think the time of day of one's walk in the desert might be the biggest safety factor in not having an encounter. As a precaution against encounters in the r.v. park, we upgraded our camper's outside light to be bright enough to light up the yard area. We wouldn't want to let the dogs out in the evening or early morning hours right into a group of javalena!  

Mountain lions are said to be elusive by those that hunt them and that without a hunting dog to let you know where they are hidden you would walk right by one. If a mountain lion does decide to consider you as dinner, you only have one option and that is to fight for your life! The Arizona Game and Fish Department website advises that you make yourself as big as you can and to make lots of noise. Do not crouch down and do not run! Running can excite a cat into the predator and prey mode, when it might have let you escape otherwise. Mountain lions can not back up, so you must give them a chance to come forward enough to turn around. I saw on a nature show where a small built older woman saved her husband from a Mountain lion by attacking as fiercely and relentlessly as she could with big stick. I think encounters with them like most predators are going to fall within the dusk to dawn range.

We have had some warnings about coyotes, but I guess I personally don't feel that they are a threat unless you have a small child or pet that's unattended or the coyotes are starving. One r.v. park we were at was surrounded by desert, had a dry creek bed that followed the side of the park where the dumpster was located, and coyotes could be heard very close to the park. I was wary of the dusk to dawn hours for trips to the dumpster, and was watchful of the dogs when being let out during the dim light hours.

This is the San Pedro River in southern Arizona. Are you confident enough in your knowledge of alligators and crocodiles to allow your dogs to play in or near the water down south?

We all know there are alligators in Florida and Louisiana, but did you realize that they are said to be in all the southern states clear to the southern tip of Texas! Alligators are found in fresh water, but also brackish water such as where rivers meet the ocean. Here are their locations according to Wikipedia:  All of Florida and Louisiana. Southern Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.  Coastal South and North Carolina. The southeast corner of Oklahoma. Southern tip of Arkansas.  East Texas to the southern tip.   There are always the exceptions to the general rule, though, in that a few alligators have been found in the Rio Grande River almost as far north as El Paso. Crocodiles are in Mexico starting about 60 miles south of the U.S. border!  They also share habitat with alligators in southern Florida. Now we know!