Black Mountain

Moon-like cinder fields define this ascent.

13 September 2025 W7A/CS-037

Two Stars – a nice summit. I’d do it again. Recommended.

Elevation:	7,556′
Route:	Cross country
Hike Distance:	2.0 miles up*
Elevation Gain:	680′
Navigation:	Easy
Steepness:	Moderate**
Vehicle:	Passenger car
Road:	Good dirt road
Cell Coverage:	Excellent Verizon

* 1.4 miles on a direct return (3.4 miles round trip) **Steepness can be avoided.

On my return trip to Southern California I decided to layover in Flagstaff for a day to wander around the Coconino Plateau. Originally I planned to do both Black Mountain and Baby Black on the same day. But after negotiating the scree fields of Black Mountain, I decided to push Baby Black off to Sunday morning.

As Flagstaff resident Keith KR7RK noted, the cinder fields on this mountains can be difficult to ascend. One step up, two steps back. However this sliding action makes scree fields pretty easy to descend. Because Keith suggested that the wooded areas are easier, I rolled off to the west side and climbed up the wooded west ridge. This was pretty easy.

Here is my ascent track. Unlike most mountains, this is better than:

My descent track saves about a quarter mile and descending the black volcanic scree is much easier than trying to go up.

Radio conditions were noisy on 40m with s9 static crashed from the thundershower activity in New Mexico, but I was able to make quite a few contacts despite the QRN and rather anemic signal reports from California. 20 meters and 15 meters has much less noise. Christian came booming in from France.

I also got a summit-to-summit with Carol KE6SRN and Tom KE6SRO who had just been up this mountain and who’s blog inspired me to try it.

There are plenty of trees on the summit for antennas