Mural Hill and Then Some

Finally got back to Mural Hill, a beautiful and easily accessible local Bisbee hike usually about 6 miles out and back. With hiking from our place to the trailhead, and one half-mile inadvertent detour (see the map below), I ended up closer to 10 miles. Nice temps in the 60s, but with a pretty strong wind starting off.

I had always thought Mural Hill got its name because, from a distance, it actually looks like a mural painted on a wall. But after further research, Mural refers to a type of limestone, a compressed fossiliferous stratigraphic formation of the Bisbee Group, dating back to the Cretaceous period (146-66 Ma*). This is basically limestone made up of compressed and crystalized marine fossils from when the Gulf of Mexico began encroaching northward and flooded southern Arizona with a shallow sea. 

This explanation, of course, is only valid if you believe in science. If you are a biblical literalist and believe in a young-earth as part of your theology, then Mural Hill was placed where it was 8,000 years ago directly by the hand of God.
*Ma: million years ago

The little virgule about ¾ of the way in amounts to a mile detour as I  turned left when I should have turned right. I would have liked to blame the unkempt, overgrown path, but in reality, I was yammering away about some thing or other.

My hiking pal today is my friend Britt Hansen.

Britt's sweet dog Elsie accompanied us.

First glimpse of Mural Hill upon which we would take our mid-hike break. Not a mural, but a type of limestone. Hmm...

Another limestone formation of Mural limestone of the Bisbee Group. I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about.

The old copper mine in Bisbee, aka, the Lavender Pit.