Date: January 18, 2026 • Elevation: 6,600 feet ✳ • Prominence: 710 feet • Distance: 14.4 miles • Time: 7 hours, 15 minutes • Gain: 3,480 feet (gross) • Conditions: Perfect

Arizona • Main • PB • LoJ • USGS BM Datasheet

Grassy Hill is the highest peak in the line of hills that rise north of highway AZ-80 as it heads east out of Bisbee. It cannot be seen from Old Town Bisbee. The better views are from just about anywhere in the eastern sectors of the city, around the traffic circle near Lowell and Warren. It rises about a mile east of Mural Hill.

After moving to Bisbee a couple years ago, I learned quickly there is no easy way up to the peak, even though it is so close to the highway. On Lists of John, only a handful of people have climbed it, which is itself revealing. Even many of the big names have ignored it.

A study of the maps and of the surrounding roads and possible access points suggests three possible ways to gain the peak. The obvious one is a direct hike from the highway to the south. It would be short but steep with over 1,600 feet of gain, although the terrain looked amenable the entire way. But this way is fenced and mostly private. A route from the north and east via Mexican Canyon is blocked entirely by private land.

The only viable option was to come in from Old Town and follow the route to Mural Hill, then go beyond that and eventually over to Grassy Hill. The trails to Mural Hill are in good shape as it is a popular hike for locals. There appeared to be old mine roads to follow, and the slopes looked promising, but this would involve over a thousand feet of drop and regain. A long limestone cliff blocks a direct approach. I'd be obliged to made a long end-run around this cliff, which would add distance.

It's been bothering me now for two years that I haven't climbed the peak. I just never got around to it. The access problem as well as the probable thorny brush to be encountered turned me off. But now, I was intent on climbing this darn peak. I see if every day — I needed to climb it!

I chose the Old Town approach. I was up early, but not at dawn, parking in the small lot on the east end of Old Town. I got my pack together and started the hike at 7:30 a.m. in clear and cold conditions.

I walked up OK Street, then onto the trails below Youngblood Hill, taking the left branch which circles around the peak and connects to other trails deeper into the range. I followed another trail down into a draw and up to where it connects with an ancient road north of Jones Hill. This is the route to Mural Hill.

I continued northward up this road, which is brushy but with a distinct trail cutting through it. This led to a split, where I went right, now on the road/track toward Mural Hill.

The hike was easy so far, just putting one foot in front of the other on this road/track/trail. I arrived to the high saddle, elevation about 6,200 feet, just below Mural Hill. I had covered a little under three miles and it had taken me a little under two hours to get here. So far, everything was working well. It had been a fine trail the whole way.

The map shows this track continues steeply down the opposite side, into Mexican Canyon. Satellite images show this road but it looked nasty even on the images. It drops almost a thousand feet in about a mile and a half. I got onto this track and immediately, it was ugly. Heavy mature brush growing tightly together with no real way through it. I pushed through and made a couple turns to where at least the brush lightened.

I continued down this track. It passed a couple old digs and tailings but was covered over in agave, sawgrass, mountain oak, grass and cactus. I might have an open route for a few hundred feet, but often, I had to bash through the tangles and thorns. This was easy but it went slowly.

The whole way, I had a fine unfettered view of Grassy Hill. There is a long cliff band that blocks any access to the slopes that seemed most sensible to follow up. The ridge above it looked friendly. The only way onto it was to drop the entire way into Mexican Canyon, then follow the canyon bottom some more in order to catch the ridge where there were no cliffs.

I dropped and dropped until the road simply disappeared. I flagged my route using surveyor's ribbon, then dropped into the drainage at the canyon bottom. I had about a half-mile of this, and at first, it was rocky and brushy, but fortunately, opened up so that most of this segment went by fast. I was soon (in a manner of speaking) beyond the cliffs and at the toe of the long ridge I wanted to take up. I was on my 5th mile now. It was sunny and warming, but still pleasant, temperatures in the high 50s.

I picked a slope and started up, going more over than up. It was covered over in brush and loose scree rock. I was able to follow game paths that fed me up to some low rocks, a remnant of the cliff. I was able to scamper up these, now on the ridge.

The peak was ahead another mile and change, partially hidden by a foreground peak. I walked up this ridge, which wasn't too steep. It had long limestone rocky karst which allowed me to walk on it like a sidewalk. I'd then hit a batch of brush and pointy plants and weasel my way through. This went on for a half hour and I was now closing in on the upper hills.

I was still looking at about 400 feet of gain, but it looked good from here. I hiked up one slope to place myself at the base of the first hill. I then marched up this hill to top out. The summit was still hidden but as I gained higher, I could see it poke up behind the foreground hills.

I then busted up another hill then another steep slope and hill, to place me at the highest saddle with the top directly ahead. Curiously, there is a road cut here (it can be seen in my photo). It amuses me that at some time in the past, vehicles got up here. This road cut does not connect to any other roads; whatever it connected to has long since been erased.

Finally, finally, I was closing in on the summit. It has a long profile with a summit cairn near its northeast tip. There was a solar panel and a repeater, likely for the Border Patrol, and likely maintained via helicopter. I found the benchmark in a rock near the cairn. I had made it, over four hours after starting.

I took a break here to snap images and have something to eat and drink. I looked for a register but found nothing. Views were excellent: the Lavender Pit and the mineworks to the south, the main Mule Mountains to the west, Cintura Hill to the north and the Sulphur Springs Valley to the east. It had been a tiring hike to get here but it was worth it. I was damn glad to be here.

I was not looking forward to the long hike out but obviously had no choice. I started down the slopes, following my ascent routes mostly the same. The long ridge down went well. I took a different subridge down into Mexican Canyon. Here, I hit some very heavy brush, some of it chest high, thorny and tangly. I pushed through it, not without losing some blood though. I dropped into the drainage in Mexican Canyon.

The segment up Mexican Canyon went efficiently. I saw one of my ribbons up on the slopes above and scampered upward, now on this old road and looking at about a thousand feet to the pass near Mural Hill. This went slowly. I was tired by now. I kept a slow and steady pace and in about an hour had made my way to the pass.

I stopped and had a drink break. I'd already run through most of two liters of my liquids. I thought I packed four liters total, but I discovered I had not. I'd just packed three liters. I finished the second liter and saved the third for the rest of the hike out. I still had three miles to go, all of it downhill and on the better trail.

This also went without mishap, making good time on the trails. I stopped at a lowpoint and drank the rest of my liquids. I was upset with myself that I had not packed a fourth bottle which would have been very helpful. But it was a cool day and it as just a minor discomfort. Even now in the early afternoon, it was still only in the low 60s.

I got back onto OK Street finally, then back to my car, a 7-hour and 15-minute ordeal in what I later determined to be over 14 miles round trip. I had plenty of drinks sitting in my car so I gulped one down then just drove home. It was nice that my drive was just a few miles. I was beat but feeling good.

So finally, I had scratched this annoying itch to climb Grassy Hill. It was a tough customer, but overall, not difficult. It was just very long and on old tracks that did not make fast movement easy. I would not recommend my route, though. That southern route may be best, if you can find a place to stash your car. I won't be coming back for this peak and likely never again for Mexican Canyon. I was happy to have climbed this peak successfully and happy to be home.

The peak lies on a section of private land. Much of the approach including most of the drop into Mexican Canyon is State Trust land. There is a segment of BLM property to the south of the peak. I suspect the land is owned by the mines but that is speculation. There were no fences or posted notices once back into the hills. I cannot imagine this part of the range sees more than one person a year, if that.