Bisbee, Arizona - Charming Town

The town of Bisbee is a blast from the past, and in fact, I believe that much of the town has been designated as a historic site, and it is home to the nations oldest, continually used ball park.

In addition to its historic status, Bisbee has become a very friendly, artsy community that is a ton of fun to visit. It is built on the side of hills, making it even more interesting.  Many houses are accessible only by stairs.  

Even the trees are artistic.

The downtown historic district is full of old historic buildings.

This building is the post office and library.  The balconies on the second and third floors have little tables for outside working and browsing, and of course, great views too.  There is no postal delivery in Bisbee, so the post office is fun to visit, with all of its original post office boxes and lots of people picking up mail.

The antique store across the street from the library has skeletons on the front porch.

This fly on the wall is visible from the balcony.

A pet parakeet going for a walk.

They say that the best way to explore Venice is to get lost, and I would say the same is true for the town of Bisbee.  And that is exactly what we did.

Coronado Cave, Southern Arizona

Coronado Cave is in Coronado National Forest on the east side of Montezuma Pass.  There is a small parking lot for maybe six cars.  This is the trail head to the cave.  The hike to the cave opening is only about a half mile, but it is steep and rocky in places.  Also the entrance to the cave is the most difficult part of the hike.  You have to scramble over large boulders, and there is about a 45 degree decline into the cave.  It is a completely undeveloped cave, so head lamps and flashlights are a must!  This is a no fee area, but you enter the cave on your own.

The hike to the cave entrance.

At the cave entrance there is a sign showing the shape of the cave and gives some information about the cave.

There is also a beautiful view from the cave entrance.

From here we put on our headlamps and long sleeves and entered the cave.

You can see how steep the descent into the cave is.  It’s a bit wet and slippery, so this is where the headlamps come in handy, to keep your hands free.

Once inside the cave, we were able to just enjoy all the formations.  All of these pictures are taken with only the light of our headlamps.

After exploring the cave for about half an hour, we headed back to the entrance for the steep climb out.  We had the cave completely to ourselves.  What a wonderful experience!

This cave is a must do if you are in the area.  It’s not every day you get to explore an undeveloped cave completely on your own!

Bisbee 1000, Bisbee, Arizona

Bisbee, Arizona is a town of many hills, and many stairways.  In fact they have put together a route through town called the Bisbee 1000.  If you follow the map and complete this route, you will have climbed 1000 stairs.  I would say that if you really want to see old Bisbee up close and personal, this is the way to do it!

Here are some of the sights along the Bisbee 1000 route.

These are houses that has no street access, no parking near the house, no garage.  You have to either climb or descend steps to get to this house from the street.

This map of the Bisbee 1000 route in the main parking lot for the historic district.  I had to break it into two pictures to fit it all in.We probably could have picked up a better map at the visitors center, but where’s the adventure in that?

Our attempt at following this map was only 6/8 successful.  There are 8 stairways that make up the1000 steps, and after stairway number 6 we were hopelessly lost, not being able to find 7 and 8.  We gave it a good effort, and someday it will be our goal to find 7 and 8 and finish this route.  To me, this was the perfect way to explore Bisbee.  So even though we didn’t quite finish, I consider it a complete success!