While we spent most of our time fairly close to Sedona, we did make one day trip to Prescott to see the Granite Dells. This was a very easy drive and the GPS on the phone took us right to the park (I-17 south, to 169 and 69 where we hit 89A then a short stretch on 89 south to the park entrance). The entrance fee was $2 to cover parking (should have come on Wednesday as it is free then). This is a nice little park with picnic pavilions, play grounds and open fields; looks like a great asset for Prescott. We drove to the end of the park road to an area overlooking the lake and the Granite Dells. We took a few minutes to get the lay of the land. There were no maps remaining “take one” information bin, but there was a nice sign that showed the route around the lake (I did grab a map down by the lake and later returned it to this box; might as well recycle). The girls decided that we should head around the south part of the lake first. OK, we’ll save the rocks for later. We were on the trail about 9:30. This ended up being a very nice hike. The route we took around Watson Lake then through the Granite Dells was 4.9 miles and took us about 3 hours, which was longer than we were planning but that’s OK. We were cruising on the flat section around the southern part of the lake, but slowed down considerably in the Granite Dells as it was a tougher trail plus there were a lot more photo ops. It was getting warm by the time we got to the Dells, which was generally an exposed trail, so an earlier start would have been nice. This was not the walk in the park that we had envisioned, but it is still a pretty easy trail. A bonus was the wildlife sightings, particularly the birds around the lake. As soon as we arrived we spotted Cormorants sunning themselves on a rock out in the lake. Around the southern part of the lake there were a lot of waterfowl (Coots, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Pied-billed Grebe, Canada Geese and some oddball Mallard-traveling-salesman cross). We also spotted a Great Blue Heron in the mix. Once in the Granite Dells there were several lizards, a snake (most likely a king snake), a ground squirrel and a rabbit. So a pretty good variety or critters out on the trail this morning. From the parking lot, the trail drops quickly to the lake and is then fairly flat and level around to the opposite shore to where the Granite Dells begin. There was not a lot of traffic on the west side of the lake, just a couple bikers, but the number of walkers, joggers and bikers picked up once we were on the east side of the lake as that is a very level and wide all-purpose type trail. We following that until we hit the Lakeshore trail which got us back down closer to the water and eventually into the forest of rocks. We then followed the Lakeshore, Overhill and Northshore trails through the Granite Dells and around the rest of the lake back to our starting point. Once we were off the all-purpose trail we basically had the place to ourselves as we only saw maybe four other hikers and a few kayakers. So while the hike around the lower part of the lake was pretty and gave us a good warm up, the fun really started once we got in the rocks. The trail is still easy and well-marked, no scrambling required to get through but there is some up and down along this part of the trail, and some of it is a little steep. But it is well worth the effort as there are some interesting rock formations through the Dells and some great reflection shots of the rocks along the edge of the lake. The water level in the lake seemed low based on the level line markings on the rocks. Also, the water was very green near the shoreline, which was a little odd looking. The only place that the trail was not as clearly marked as it could have been was below the dam. Since it was wet here, there was plenty of vegetation and a couple of apparent options for cutting across. But we quickly discovered the correct route which ran along the outflow creek back toward the dam where there was a little metal bridge. Perfect, no wading today! From here the trail works uphill coming out above the dam and providing nice views of the lake. At this point we walked out across the tops of the rocks for a better view before continuing around the loop. We were back at the trailhead a little after noon. I think is a hike that I would like to do again, perhaps with an earlier start for both the birding opportunities and to get different lighting in the Dells.

Hiking/Backpacking

Get and early start and bring plenty of water as the trail is exposed.

Watson Lake, Granite Dells, Prescott, Arizona, hiking, birding, wildlife

Prescott, Arizona, United States

time : Oct 13, 2015 9:12 AM

duration : 2h 57m 46s

distance : 4.9 mi

total_ascent : 801 ft

highest_point : 5200 ft

avg_speed : 1.7 mi/h

user_id : OhioHick

user_firstname : Allen

user_lastname : Arrington

While we spent most of our time fairly close to Sedona, we did make one day trip to Prescott to see the Granite Dells. This was a very easy drive and the GPS on the phone took us right to the park (I-17 south, to 169 and 69 where we hit 89A then a short stretch on 89 south to the park entrance). The entrance fee was $2 to cover parking (should have come on Wednesday as it is free then). This is a nice little park with picnic pavilions, play grounds and open fields; looks like a great asset for Prescott. We drove to the end of the park road to an area overlooking the lake and the Granite Dells. We took a few minutes to get the lay of the land. There were no maps remaining “take one” information bin, but there was a nice sign that showed the route around the lake (I did grab a map down by the lake and later returned it to this box; might as well recycle). The girls decided that we should head around the south part of the lake first. OK, we’ll save the rocks for later. We were on the trail about 9:30. This ended up being a very nice hike. The route we took around Watson Lake then through the Granite Dells was 4.9 miles and took us about 3 hours, which was longer than we were planning but that’s OK. We were cruising on the flat section around the southern part of the lake, but slowed down considerably in the Granite Dells as it was a tougher trail plus there were a lot more photo ops. It was getting warm by the time we got to the Dells, which was generally an exposed trail, so an earlier start would have been nice. This was not the walk in the park that we had envisioned, but it is still a pretty easy trail. A bonus was the wildlife sightings, particularly the birds around the lake. As soon as we arrived we spotted Cormorants sunning themselves on a rock out in the lake. Around the southern part of the lake there were a lot of waterfowl (Coots, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Pied-billed Grebe, Canada Geese and some oddball Mallard-traveling-salesman cross). We also spotted a Great Blue Heron in the mix. Once in the Granite Dells there were several lizards, a snake (most likely a king snake), a ground squirrel and a rabbit. So a pretty good variety or critters out on the trail this morning. From the parking lot, the trail drops quickly to the lake and is then fairly flat and level around to the opposite shore to where the Granite Dells begin. There was not a lot of traffic on the west side of the lake, just a couple bikers, but the number of walkers, joggers and bikers picked up once we were on the east side of the lake as that is a very level and wide all-purpose type trail. We following that until we hit the Lakeshore trail which got us back down closer to the water and eventually into the forest of rocks. We then followed the Lakeshore, Overhill and Northshore trails through the Granite Dells and around the rest of the lake back to our starting point. Once we were off the all-purpose trail we basically had the place to ourselves as we only saw maybe four other hikers and a few kayakers. So while the hike around the lower part of the lake was pretty and gave us a good warm up, the fun really started once we got in the rocks. The trail is still easy and well-marked, no scrambling required to get through but there is some up and down along this part of the trail, and some of it is a little steep. But it is well worth the effort as there are some interesting rock formations through the Dells and some great reflection shots of the rocks along the edge of the lake. The water level in the lake seemed low based on the level line markings on the rocks. Also, the water was very green near the shoreline, which was a little odd looking. The only place that the trail was not as clearly marked as it could have been was below the dam. Since it was wet here, there was plenty of vegetation and a couple of apparent options for cutting across. But we quickly discovered the correct route which ran along the outflow creek back toward the dam where there was a little metal bridge. Perfect, no wading today! From here the trail works uphill coming out above the dam and providing nice views of the lake. At this point we walked out across the tops of the rocks for a better view before continuing around the loop. We were back at the trailhead a little after noon. I think is a hike that I would like to do again, perhaps with an earlier start for both the birding opportunities and to get different lighting in the Dells.