Hike Bill Williams Mountains and National Wildlife Refuge Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge, AZ

Mar 9, 2026 — The Bill Williams River is a 40-mile tributary of the Colorado River in western Arizona, and it supports one of the last naturally regenerated cottonwood-willow forests along the lower Colorado River, preserved within the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge. The area isn’t normally visited for peakbagging purposes, but my map-scouring addiction had drawn my attention to several summits north of the refuge in the Bill Williams Mountains. These peaks can certainly be reached from the north via a long drive through uninspiring desert, a drive I did last year to reach the Aubrey Peak Wilderness and had no desire to repeat. Whiley is always up for more miles and exploration rather than sitting in a car, so we decided to access the peaks via the refuge, even if it meant a significantly longer outing.

Our biggest concern was crossing the river, but satellite imagery gave us enough confidence that there were narrow crossing points, along with large breaks in what otherwise looked like a horrific bushwhack through the dense vegetation lining the river. We drove Planet Ranch Road about three miles to its end, a route passable by any vehicle. We felt like we’d done all the necessary research to make this route a success, but we failed to account for the unbearable heat, which ultimately forced us to drop several peaks from our original plan. Fortunately, we still got to visit the two most interesting-looking objectives, Little Black Mountain and Peak 1958, while crossing some ridiculously unique terrain along the way.

We started beyond a gate on an old road that soon became a sandy walk as we paralleled the south side of the Bill Williams River. We chose the perfect place to cross, allowing us to get across without getting our feet even a little bit wet, nor needing to wrestle with a single plant. Our first objective was Peak 912, a small summit that served as a nice warm-up. After only a short section of bushwhacking, we reached the base of an old road on the north side of the peak. We followed it upward, leaving it when it made more sense to continue directly to the high point (Class 2).

We backtracked off Peak 912 and continued generally east, following a series of old sandy roads that led to a key ramp, which served as an old road bed that provided access to higher terrain. At the top of the ramp was another gate, and this is where we started seeing ATV tracks. We were pretty confused about how they had gotten way out here, but it became a theme for the day as we kept stumbling onto various bits of tread. It was a bit of a bummer since we thought this would be a remote area inaccessible to vehicles, but we didn’t let it bother us too much. The scenery was fantastic.

We headed generally northeast toward Little Black Mountain, following the dirt road and only leaving it when it meandered too far away to be useful. Eventually, we dropped into a minor wash on the mountain’s south side and headed up a colorful gully to reach its southern base. From there, we climbed a Class 2 slope to gain the ridgeline, then stayed just left of the crest on our way to the summit. The views west toward our next peak were incredible, with bright yellow tuff, extensive dikes, and short cliff bands scattered throughout the landscape.

We hoped to descend north off Little Black Mountain, but a sketchy move in a crack shut that idea down. Instead, we backtracked and wrapped around the west side on easy terrain, rejoining the northwestern ridgeline and following the colorful landscape toward the base of Peak 1958. We didn’t expect this section to be a puzzle, but the brightness of the terrain made it difficult to see obstacles and gave us almost no sense of scale. Numerous small cliffs guarded the base, so we searched for a reasonable slope that would allow us to gain the southern ridge. While there wasn’t much scrambling, the terrain was loose enough, and we did end up making a couple of short Class 3 moves here and there. A dike with some solid rock helped us up the slope.

Once we gained the south ridge of Peak 1958 at the dike we’d followed up, we hesitated at the sight of kitty-litter rubble covering layers of hardpan tuff below a dark summit block. We definitely slipped and fell a couple of times on the way up/down, though fortunately never where it mattered. I wouldn’t call it a fun peak, but it was definitely not like any I’d seen before. At the top of the yellow tuff, we worked our way through weaknesses in the darker rock, pulling a couple of Class 3 moves to reach the summit.

By this point, the heat was becoming overwhelming. The peaks we had hoped to visit farther north looked frustratingly distant, and considering how our bodies were handling the temperature, we decided to skip them. We felt fulfilled though, since they didn’t look nearly as interesting as what we’d already climbed. Instead, we shifted our plan and decided to descend into a major south-draining wash on the west side of Peak 1958. What we hadn’t considered was whether there would actually be a way down. From above, we could see a serious cliff band that might block our descent, but we headed down anyway and followed the rim until we found a wide slope that allowed us to descend safely with no more than Class 2 terrain.

From there, we dropped into a minor drainage that fed into the wash we were aiming for, following it all the way down to the Bill Williams River corridor. We were surprised to hear a dirt bike approaching, but then again, maybe not that surprised, considering the deep ATV tracks running through the wash. Still, we found ourselves wondering where the motorized off-roaders had come from.

The wash eventually spit us out at a section of river that would have required significant bushwhacking through a swamp. Instead, we hugged the base of the foothills and followed a burro trail until we found an effortless crossing through the brush and over the river. From there, it was an easy walk back to the trailhead.