Friday, July 15, 2016

Arizona, Day Trips in Prescott … Watson Lake and the Granite Dells!

We have been staying at Point of Rock Campground, just north of Prescott. The pictures on the internet intrigued me about this campground, because I showed sites that backed up to large rock formations. I was able to secure reservations for the 4 days between leaving our son’s house and meeting up with the caravan.

I wanted to know more about the rock formations, the pictures on the internet were breathtaking!  I learned that granite is prominently featured in the rocks around Prescott. The most visible are the Granite Dells along Highway 89 on the north side of town, where for several square miles the land is covered by large rounded cliffs and boulders of pinkish-grey granite. 

These formations are sandwiched between the man-made Willow Creek Reservoir and Watson Lake. Similar scenery is found in several more remote sites nearby. The Granite Dells are a unique geological feature north of Prescott. The Dells consist of exposed bedrock and large boulders of granite that have eroded into an unusual lumpy, rippled appearance. It is amazing, that once you get further north on State Route 89, there are no more granite formations visible.

One day we took the trail from the campground to Watson Lake. We took the Watson Lake Trail section, Northshore Trail and the Secret Cove Trail. All were relatively easy to traverse, we were prepared with hiking boots, water, hats and a camera! The entire trail, all the way around the lake is approximately 5 miles. 




We lived on the edge and left the marked trail to scale to rock and head back to the campground over the rocks! Our climb covered some rocky steep terrain, and we stopped for a few photo opportunities, actually it was to catch our breath, but don’t tell anyone! We got to the top of the rocks and noticed the tops of some campers, so we knew we were heading in the right direction. We continued to pick our way down the rock formations, stopping every now and then to be sure we were still headed in the right direction!

We came across a wider groomed trail and started to follow it. We climbed rock formations to see if we could still see the campground. We learned that we were on the Pea Vine National Recreation Trail follows the former rail bed of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway through the Granite Dells. This winding portion of the railroad was known as the "Pea Vine" because its twisting curves resembled that of a pea vine. However, the trail started to veer too far away from the tops of the campers we were watching. So, we took to climbing back down the rocks. It was a little nerve racking, but not too bad … we made it to the trail, just outside the northern most point in the campground. So, we did it, we found our way back to our site without a compass or map!

Our neighbors in the campground, Connie & Louie, had told us to climb the rocks. We were so excited to share our adventure with them! They have been in the Prescott area for many years and have been a great source of information for ideas on what to do in the area!

I climbed the rocks to catch a sunset. It was a spectacular view, but not as mesmerizing as a sunset over water!







I convinced Charlie to wake up one morning at 5:00 am to climb the rocks to catch a sunrise. Sitting on the Granite Dells watching the sun rise, with the one you love, was an awesome early morning!



The Granite Dells are a place I would come back to again! I would definitely stay at Point of Rocks again too! We learned that the campground owns 80 acres in the Granite Dells!

No comments:

Post a Comment