big man tips

CLOVER SPRING Williams Clover Spring On a mountain with no shortage of summit-busting hiking trails, it takes will power to swerve off the epic routes onto one with a subtler kind of charisma. Whether bypassed due to time constraints, bad weather or dwindling supplies, secondary routes often get ignored in favor of heavily travelled arterial trails. Clover Spring Trail #46 epitomizes the joy to be found on the little trails that compete for love with the summit routes on Bill Williams Mountain. Trough at Clover Spring More an option than a diversion, this shady, moderate path is toggled to challenging Bill Williams Mountain Trail #21 and can be hiked as either a short loop or an alternative leg that adds less than a mile to the standard summit route. The "C"-shaped connector moves through beautiful woodlands overlooking the city of Williams. A short section of climbing among lichen-cloaked boulders precedes the arrival at a rustic concrete trough marking Clover Spring. Don...

BENHAM TRAIL Williams Aspens near the summit of Bill Williams Mountain Heading west from Flagstaff on Interstate 40, the distinctive profile of Bill Williams Mountain juts over sprawling prairies criss-crossed with railroad tracks and remnants of Historic Route 66. The mountain's lumpy appearance is the result of multiple volcanic events that caused lava to accumulate in irregular heaps. The eruptions that occurred roughly 4.2 to 2.8 million years ago mark the western edge of the San Francisco Volcanic Field---an arc of molten rock relics that includes San Francisco Mountain (Humphreys Peak) stretching from Williams to north east of Flagstaff. Mountains like this one are just too tempting not to conquer. Because it's there, three ways to get to its summit have been established. You could drive to the top on the dirt road, but what fun is that? A more entertaining way up is to hike one of the single track trails.   Although both routes are about the same length, each offers a ...