Our day in the city park

by Jeff · September 22, 2015

Ahhhh……

R.P. (Rotini-poker.com) and I awoke to a sudden start, and looking at each other, screamed!!!……No, no, wait….different story.

We woke up to a grand, beautiful morning on Friday and as we were lazing in bed drinking our coffee we decided we should go for a walk in one of the Prescott city parks. We often do this wherever we are, get out and smell the roses type thing. We both hate just sitting around.

So we looked through the local park listing and decided to go to the city of Prescott Park at Watson Lake. It boasts a multiple part 5 mile maximum distance scenic walking trail around a lake.

It’s a beautiful setting, you pull up to a gate shack and the parks employee assesses the two, yes 2, dollar fee to enter into this outstanding park. He notices The Beasts’ Washington plates and asks us what we’re wanting to do. We tell him we’re going to walk the loop trail and he gets a funny look on his face. He asks if we have water. Now R.P. and I are experienced park hikers (having done most of the southwest national parks) so we have sun hats, three liter camelbaks, sturdy hiking shoes and sun block. We tell him yes and he then says that it might be cool enough (not quite 10 in the morning) to make the hike, gives us a map of the trail and says that it is marked with white painted dots. He then advises us to go to the high scenic point and look around the area. As we drive off he says “see you in an hour”. We thought nothing of it at the time.

This park has it all, a boat launch, camping spots, RV spots, disc golf course, and is well manicured. We find the parking area, walk to the trail head at the boat launch and strike off on the loop trail. There is a sign warning of “single file, strenuous trails” and that you assume all liability while hiking here. We follow the shore along a nice path and into the rocks with great Vistas of the lake. There are some elevation changes, but nothing that screams “turn back or die”. We continue on our leisurely hike, joking about park dudes concern for the tourists welfare and about how we prepare even for routine hikes.

We then start into the back country and get into the beautiful granite boulder fields and canyons behind the Watson Lake dam. We come to a downward rock face of about 30 degrees and see a sign pointing two directions. One direction says “steep” the other says “steeper”. Hmmmm, maybe park dude knows something? We continue on as if we know what we are doing, hahahaha….

Down we go through beautiful cuts in the granite, imagining the final polished product on our counter tops at home. I have lost count of the lizards and birds we have seen along the trail, many of them only inches from me at times.

The trail has become truly technical. This is more technical than many trails we have hiked in the national parks, both of us are thankful for the fact that we buy good equipment because this trail definitely demands more than the 20 dollar shoe can provide. This trail requires good footwear with ankle support and tough outer shell with good tread. The granite would eat a lesser shoe. This is also a great place to recommend trekking poles or at least a good walking stick.

We finally drop into the bottom below the dam where there is a lush green narrow valley with a running deep creek. We cross the expanded metal that they placed across the creek and here we have a brief encounter with some fellow trekkers. First couple are 20 something hardbodies with a beautiful red doberman who is wearing a pack with water bottles and all are very friendly. We admire their youth as they go bounding up the trail. The second couple is our demographic and nice enough as we exchange trail notes with them.

Kind of like the old saying “what goes up, must come down”….well we had gone all the way down and now had to climb back out of the canyons. What a climb…. by the time we reached the Cap rock we were definitely ready for a break. We made our way out onto the peavine trail, which is a flat old railway line that has been converted to a walking trail.

A side note to all this…in Olympia, all the old rail lines that have been converted to trails have been paved. This one in Prescott is gravel, you can still see some of the old cross ties along the trail and there are exhaust “clinkers” along the roadbed. Funny contrast…also the “use at own risk” signs are a sign of a society that require you to accept liability for your actions.

I had truly forgotten how beautiful and majestic these areas can be. The life and activity around the water holes is abundant. The tracks in the sand and mud speak volumes about who uses the resources…every desert dweller is represented by their signs. Every time we do these desert hikes, I find myself reverting to my roots of reading sign and identifying my surroundings.

We met a cute couple of Japanese women who had 1/2 bottle of water between them and were going to do the trail in reverse order from us. We recommended that they not try the whole trail. I hope they made it.

As a wrap up to this tale…..we made it and it only took us 5 hours. Another great hike in the back country that was challenging and full of rewards. R.P. and I always enjoy accomplishing a challenge together and, as many of you have heard of our experience in Capitol Reef National Park, this hike definitely rivals that experience. As we left the park, the park dude says “good job” and seems a little relieved that he didn’t have to call out the back country rescue squad for the tourists from Washington.