Sky Island Sprint: The “Spring” Trek to Mt. Ballard Above Bisbee

Dawn slips into Bisbee on quiet cat feet, turning the corrugated hills of copper country the color of a new penny. The wind stirs in the Mule Mountains like a guide eager to get moving, nudging you toward a narrow ribbon of singletrack that wastes no time pointing up. This is the three-hour push to Mt. Ballard—the high point of the Mules—known locally as the “Spring” Trek, a compact test piece built for hikers who like their views hard-earned and their mornings efficient. Over 3.5 miles, you’ll climb 1,350 feet through a living museum of the Madrean Sky Islands, where desert shrubs hand the baton to fir and manzanita as the air cools and the horizon widens.