By the end of our stay in Cottonwood the temperature was hovering around 90 degrees. Our new location, Prescott, located at 5400 feet elevation, is in the low 70's...perfect temps for hiking and exploring this lovely area.
We've hit a jackpot of a place to stay too:
Point of Rocks RV Campground is a full hookup park nestled against giant granite boulders, with a short trail to lovely Watson Lake. This area at the North end of Prescott is known as the
Granite Dells and contains miles of trails among the granite boulders including the pleasant
Peavine Rail-Trail.
Of course our first day here we hiked the
Watson Lake Loop trail right from our campsite. The City of Prescott has done a great job of creating, signing, and maintaining approximately
50 miles of trails throughout the city and this one is a beauty. Free city trail maps are available at several kiosks around Watson Lake.
The North end of this man-made lake is a wonderland of boulders. The trail takes you through acres of granite oddities, grippy hiking shoes are recommended. The South West portion of the trail goes through Watson Woods, a beautiful, green riparian preserve. This hike was about 6 miles, including a couple of offshoots for great views.
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At the North end of Watson Lake the trail winds over and through an impressive granite boulder field.
The trail will take us behind the dam... |
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| Water released from the dam provides a pretty waterfall and riparian area. |
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| A pig head? |
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The trail took us through this massive granite boulder field.
You can see the only people we met on the trail below. dwarfed by the landscape. |
On our second day in Prescott we drove a few miles South of town to hike the 9 mile
Groom Creek Loop (trail 307). This trail takes you through pine, oak and juniper woods up to the Spruce Mountain fire lookout. We were fortunate that fire season had just begun and the resident ranger invited us into her tower to admire the views and learn a bit about her job watching for the first signs of fire in this extremely dry wooded country.
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| Spruce Mountain fire lookout. |
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| Ranger Susie had these beauties as her constant companions. |
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| Here we are behind the fire triangulating compass. |
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| Hans hugs one of the enormous alligator junipers we saw throughout the forest. |
Back at camp we enjoy an evening walk on the boulders behind our site.
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| Rosie LOVES exploring on the rocks...during the day the lizards are active targets! |
We really liked Prescott. Great trails, beautiful scenery, a brewpub, and a Trader Joe's!
ReplyDeleteHow cool that you got an invite to the fire tower. We had the same experience in Silver City, NM and it was so fun to see all the equipment in that little building.
Sophie loves rock climbing, too. Must be a girl cat thing!
We are loving Prescott too! Hit the Trader Joes as soon as we got set up in camp! Won't see one of those again for quite some time.
DeleteLooks like a great spot to spend some time. We haven't been to Prescott so I am looking to forward to reading about your adventures. What a cool looking lake!
ReplyDeleteWe really like it here...could be a contender for a place to buy a house some day if weren't quite so dry.
DeleteWow - again. The water in the rocks is amazing! Love the big trees and the horned-toad lizard. Sounds like a perfect Spring location. Enjoy and be safe on all those massive boulders!
ReplyDeleteWe are loving the variety of terrain...between the boulders and the forest it's awesome!
DeleteLooks like a really neat little area! We didn't get to see much of it while we were there. The park looks like a scoure.
ReplyDeleteNina
Yep, we are really happy with this RV park...and Prescott itself!
DeleteLooks like a great time. Thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure...thank you for reading!
DeleteWhat a neat site. We have yet to visit Prescott.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely a worthwhile stop!
DeleteTwo beautiful hikes!! The water trailing between the rocks is so pretty. How neat to have a special tour of the fire tower.
ReplyDeleteRosie is really doing a great job. Won't be long and she can join you two on your hikes!!
I hope you are planning a campground
review on the place you stayed in Cottonwood:)
We sure wish she could hike with us! But yes, she is doing great on the leash, it just takes a little patience on our part.
DeleteHi, Hans and Lisa -- I am thinking about heading that way next week. I had originally planned my northward route through Lake Havasu, but just too darned HOT!) Can you tell me what the internet coverage is like there? I work from my rig...have both Verizon and AT&T. Was the signal pretty good?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne, Thanks for reading the blog! The weather is pretty darn nice up here at a mile high and I do recommend this RV park. The park does not have internet, we are using our own Verizon and with the booster we are getting about 2 bars. It is adequate. We do not have AT&T so I can't comment on that.
DeleteWhat a great review of the area. We are recent transplants from San Diego and we are walking distance to many of these trails. What a delight to live here.
ReplyDeleteHi Larry, Thanks for reading! We are really liking Prescott and will put it on our list of potential places to live!
DeleteWe will definitely be putting this on the list when we get back to AZ. I cannot tell you how much we are missing the west and we won't be back there for several months yet. :(
ReplyDeleteI hear that from a lot of people...how much they love the West compared to the East. We're having a hard time deciding if we'll ever go East, we love the Western landscapes so much!
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