The Mountains of Arizona
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Bixler Mountain • Coxcomb Hill Bixler Mountain is a lava dome rising on the west slopes of Bill Williams Mountain, about 30 miles west of Flagstaff. It has a symmetric shape, with steep forested slopes on all sides, and a flattish summit with the highpoint on its southwest edge. Not much information is available on the actual climb, probably because few people climb it. What little information exists always mentions the heavy brush, downed logs and abundant rocks. This was the first full week of the Fall semester and I was in Tempe teaching my classes. After my last class ended, I hit the road northward toward the high country. I was making a special exception in driving so far for this one peak, but I figured now would be as good a time as ever to climb it. I've put it off repeatedly. I included nearby Coxcomb Hill on the agenda to make it a two-peak day. The weather in Arizona has been very wet for the past couple of days. Big thunderstorms building over the deserts and almost everywhere in the high elevations, and a big haboob that hit both Tucson and Phoenix last night. Weather forecasts had rain pretty much everywhere for the following few days. I was in the Williams area about 10:30 p.m., where I topped the gas and got some basic food items for dinner and tomorrow's hikes. Back on Interstate-40, I drove a few miles west to the Devil Dog exit. I parked in a clearing just south of the interstate, hidden by trees but close enough to hear the cars. For now, conditions were calm and cool, but very humid. It was pitch-black dark. The moon was in its crescent stage but clouds blocked out any such light from it or the stars. I had my dinner in the front seat of my car. I had my cot ready to set up, but then a spell of rain prompted me to sleep in the car. I slept reasonably well, probably because I was very tired by now.
Date: August 27, 2025
• Elevation: 8,404 feet
• Prominence: 644 feet
• Distance: 6.2 miles
• Time: 4 hours
• Gain: 1,654 feet
• Conditions: Cool, very humid, almost misty
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I was up by 4:30 a.m. this morning, everything still dark but at least clear, where I could see the stars above. I sat there and let the sun rise, then got rolling about 5 a.m. when some toy-haulers came into my area, making all sorts of noise. It was cool outside, in the low 60s, but sopping wet. Everything was covered in dew and the air felt like I was inside a cloud.
Still in the dark, I drove briefly on the main roads not more than a mile, looking for the lesser tracks that veer east toward Bixler Mountain. By now, there was enough pre-dawn light to barely see things. The road I wanted seemed to be absent from the main road, so I followed another track east, then doubled back on another road (the one I wanted originally), and parked. These tracks were marginal in quality, and particularly sticky and slick with the moisture.
I got my stuff together and myself properly dressed, also wasting a little time to let the sun rise some more. The sky appeared cloudless for the time being, which was a good sign. I was hoping for a few early-morning hours of cloudless skies before they built again and started raining.
I walked a little west on this track, then hung a left, now on the main road that heads up to Bixler Saddle, which sits east of Bixler Mountain and west of Bill Williams Mountain. It was still cool and shadowy, so all I did was walk. In about an hour, I was at the saddle, to here a gain of about a thousand feet in 2.5 miles.
I stopped for a break at the saddle, sitting on a convenient tree stump. The summit of Bixler Mountain was not far, a half mile and about 650 feet higher. It was completely covered in thick forest, a mix of the big fir trees and the lighter carpet-like brushier crud. After a few minutes, I started upward.
At first, things went well. I had mostly open lanes and few obstacles, and I gained about 250 feet fairly quickly. Then I came upon the rocks and tangly foliage. I should have immediately moved laterally, but I didn't know any better. I thought this would be a short obstacle and things would open up again.
I was now on large blocky talus laying in heaps, covered in slick moss. The trees here were narrow and grew closely together, their branches forming impenetrable tangles. Down low, there was abundant thorn brush. I was in shorts. At times, I simply ran into a dead end. Even all the motivation in the world wouldn't get me to power my way through these tangles.
I was moving very slowly here, often going left and right looking for any opening. I'd see some cleared area about twenty feet higher, but to get there would take five minutes. This was some large talus too, with voids in between that looked scary. I was very mindful of slipping or getting my foot caught.
These opening were usually just a pile of talus which at least meant I would not be shredded for the next few minutes by the brush. I'd scamper up these slopes and into more brush. This went on for about 45 minutes, during which time I covered about 0.2 mile and gained about 200 feet. My legs were a bloody mess. My spirit wasn't much better.
Finally, finally, I was out of this gauntlet and onto plain old rocks and actual ground. The slope was moderating and I sensed I was on the top plateau. Up here, movement was far easier although I still had some rough sections to push through. It's impossible to see the top. I just kept going up until I ran out of mountain to climb.
The summit is a large rock on which was a small cairn, and I was extremely grateful and relieved to be here. It was a little past 8 a.m. and I had been climbing for 2 hours, 15 minutes. I had some decent views out over the forest and plains, and a view into the sun of Bill Williams Mountain. I could not find a register.
For the descent, I did not want to go down what I had just come up, so I angled slightly northeast rather than east, and figured I would follow any open line out, no matter its direction. Here, I had a failsafe. Any northward bearing would meet the road no matter what.
I made sure to stay within the big fir trees, which meant likely less of that heavier denser stuff I had coming up. This worked. Not to say it was easy. The ground was covered in downed logs and rocks, and I had to ease over and down them, but this was still better than trying to push through impenetrable brush.
To my relief, this worked. I could sense after awhile I was down past the nastier stuff, now just on steep sloping terrain. I angled right and somehow, by dumb luck, came out exactly back to the saddle. I took a break here again, happy this was over with.
By now, the clouds were building, some with dark underbellies, but nothing organized. It was pleasant, in the 70s, and still very humid but not uncomfortable. The 2.5-mile walk down the road and back to my car took an hour, me blanking out my mind for much of it. I was back at 9:55 a.m., almost 4 hours exactly round trip.
No, I did not enjoy the brush and rocks and blood loss, but I was happy to finally tag Bixler Mountain's top, and I assure you, this will be my only time. The whole area is lovely, just not the top 400 feet of the mountain.
My recommendation, for what it's worth, is to walk to the saddle, then looking up, note where the big firs are, and do your best to stay in them. I would not ascend directly up, but instead, angle right and make a long arcing upward hike. There will be some scrambles and some ugly downed logs, but it will be easier than the alternative.
Elevation: 7,045 feet
• Prominence: 444 feet
• Distance: 2 miles
• Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
• Gain: 525 feet
• Conditions: Warmer, cloudy but with a breeze
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I drove out to the Interstate, then into Williams, exiting at the I-40 Business exit, going left and along the west-bound frontage road. This goes under a railroad line, now called Country Club Drive. I stayed on this road north, west then north, where it loses pavement and is now County Road 124.
This is a good road, a forest "highway" about fifty feet wide and well-graded. I stayed on it for about four or five miles, to where it bends west and drops slightly. I was going strictly by sight and not paying attention to road numbers. I found a road that went north, with Coxcomb Hill visible about two miles away.
This road was not as good, but as long as I went slow, it was drivable. I had to make a couple turns on instinct, but I always went toward the peak. The road was rough in spots with chunky lava rocks, some embedded rocks, ruts, stretches with a very high center, and sticky from the recent rains. I parked underneath a juniper near a corral, about a mile short of the peak.
Coxcomb Hill looked like an attractive peak. I was expecting more forest, but it was mostly open, dotted with piñon and juniper. I started walking at 11 a.m.. It was warm and cloudy, but with a strong breeze. I was not concerned about a pop-up thunderstorm.
I followed the road toward the peak. It gains steeply up the lower flanks, then ends at a turn-around at a fence, this being the boundary of the Kaibab National Forest to the south, private land to the north.
I found where past visitors had pried apart the strands in the fence, so squeezing through was easy. To my surprise, a path continued. It looked like an old ATV track at one time, and it may have been. It narrowed into a proper trail. It was steep and rubbly, but it was a trail and it went all the way up, and I was happy about that.
The peak has two lobes that appear to be equal in height. To my eyes, the east lobe looked highest so I went there first. From below it has north-facing cliffs and rock jumbles, but going "around back", it is an easy walk up the path to the top, no hands needed.
Any one of three rocks looked highest, so I put my DNA on each. Looking west, the west lobe looked as high or maybe higher. So I walked over to it, and clambered up a rock pile on its west tip, tagging the top rock. Views were good, with sunny skies broken up by the puffy clouds. Out west was a wind farm.
Looking back and forth between the lobes, I cannot tell which is highest. They both look as high, within a foot or two of one another. Visiting both was easy.
I hiked down the same way, slipping a couple times on the loose tread, and was back to my car, the round trip hike taking a little over an hour. This was a fun and attractive peak and I was happy to climb it. It was a more pleasant experience than over on Bixler.
The Burlington, Northern & Santa Fe rail line runs north of the peak, and I could hear trains on it, and even see then from elevated points. The land north of the forest boundary is a checkerboard of State Trust and private. It was common for the railroad in the old days to secure land using this checkerboard trick. I assume that the section I was on is BN&SF land. I saw no signs against trespass.
It was a little past noon now and I debated what to do next. I needed to be back in Phoenix/Tempe by nightfall so I was in no hurry. I decided to drive to Ash Fork, then take AZ-89 into Prescott. I had maps for a couple easy peaks there, but it was warm and I was beat from my earlier hikes.
I followed the bypass around the city, connecting to AZ-69, then taking that back to Interstate-17 and into hotville, temps above 100°. Fortunately, traffic was not heavy, and I was able to locate myself into Scottsdale where I had a room waiting for me at a Marriott near Old Town.
This hotel used to be a one-off, a privately-owned outfit called the Scottsdale Hotel. It was cheap but nice, and I liked staying there. Apparently Marriott bought it and assimilated it into its borg. Anyway, they levied a parking fee on me that was not made clear when I booked it.
The guy at the counter said it was in the "small print" when I booked it. The fact that they want a surcharge just to park is absurd, but apparently this is the new normal, where charging a fee for everything is now part of the game.
I said to him that rather than surprise us with this fee, just make it clear in big letters at the time of booking. I wouldn't have liked it but at least I'd be expecting it. He agreed. I know it wasn't his fault.
<rant>Maybe it's the old man in me, but why do companies and corporations do this? They know it won't go over well and create ill will. They do it because they can. It is very frustrating how underhanded these things are.</rant>
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