About this hike: Every time I try to hike up Bill Williams Mountain in the fairly remote town of Williams, AZ, something goes wrong. From a freak May snowstorm to personal drama, this one has been my unicorn.
Today I finally got to do this hike. The weather did try to rain on me, but it only sprinkled briefly. I was under a time constraint and reached the summit in about an hour--no small feat.
Once you reach the summit there's more plodding along a dirt Jeep road to get to where the communications towers are located. All I have ever wanted to do at this summit was go up the historical U.S. Forest Service Fire Tower located at the top.
Today I reached that goal. Due to my time constraint I was stressed out and agitated. While it was too warm for snow in September, the wind was whipping at the summit. I got up about half a flight of those rickety, stairs on the tower and chickened out. I suffer from a fairly bad fear of heights. Now only is this tower about four stories high and rickety, it hugs the edge of the mountain. And then that wind making it sway... I just couldn't do it.
At the summit I met some friendly folks with a 4-seater Kawasaki ATV. They offered me a ride down, and instead of going back to the trailhead, they dropped me in downtown Williams where my ride was waiting. That stressor was relieved.
I didn't get to experience the fire tower, but I did get a very similar experience in late July atop Spruce Mountain in Prescott. Regardless, Bill Williams remains my unicorn...
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| ATV ride! |
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| Fire Tower I was afraid to climb |
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| Oak Creek Canyon is visible from the summit |
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