At 6:45 AM on a bright blue Arizona skies and a glaring sun, 21 hikers from the Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club set out on the one hour and a half drive north to Prescott, a nice and quaint small town of some 40,000 inhabitants.

In its past history, Prescott was twice designated as the state capital before the latter was finally relocated to Phoenix. Once on location, we met up with our 22nd hiker. We saddled up and by 9:00 AM after our traditional group picture taking and names introductions, we were on our way following the Red Trail that will hug and circumvent Willow Lake, a man-made lake built in 1935.

The lake was created by damming a narrow canyon in the rock formation that surrounds the lake. The lake is used as a reservoir but also serves as a recreational lake where you can fish, kayak or sail peacefully on a very calm water surface. Due to recent years of severe drought, the current water level was very low. You will see in several of the pictures, the once upon a time when we used to have more rainfall, the high water markings, in other words, “bathtub rings” on the rocks, some 15 to 20 feet above current water level. The lake water surface area covers 400 acres.

Yeah, but we have tro get down. [photo by Michael]

The circumference trail would have taken us by the highway (see lake map above), which is not a sight we wanted to entertain. At the end of the rock formation, we would return by taking an inland side trail called the “Red Bridge Trail”, a less treacherous trail and which would allow us to explore new rock formation scenes not experienced on our “out” hike of this morning. At midpoint, the Red Bridge Trail would link up with the Shore Line Trail and take us back to the parking lot.

The rock formation called Granite Dells around the lake is unusual looking. One might as well feel being on some other planet.

At first, our trail looked unusual: dirt trail bound by desert shrubs and tall grass, unpretentious. Soon after, we encounter the Granite Dells rock formation that will form our trail formation for the rest of our hike. Here is what the geologists said about the Granite Dells rock formation:

The Granite Dells is a geological feature north of Prescott, Arizona. The Dells consist of exposed bedrock and large boulders of granite that have eroded into an unusual lumpy, rippled appearance. Geologically speaking: the “Precambrian Dells” granite has been dated at 1.4 billion years old. Its plutonic rock was intruded at a depth of around one or two miles. These cover rocks have since been eroded away. Weathering along joints produced the rounded boulders and other unusual rock formations that characterize the Granite Dells. This process is called “spheroidal weathering”, and is common in granitic terrains.

Our hiking in Prescott’s Granite Dells was like getting lost in a Stone Age labyrinth. The network of paths on the north shore of Willow Lake coiled through hulking quartz-studded granite buttes squeezing in and out on the paths in heaving accordion style.

The rugged meandering loop trails moved seamlessly from claustrophobically tight spaces to airy exposed promontories with unobstructed vista.

On these rocks the trail followed spray-painted white dots that serve as directional beacons.

Our starting point trail was a dirt trail bordered by desert shrubs and short trees. The trail soon led to an open panoramic view of smooth and weathered Dells rocks and loose boulders which seemed ready to roll down with a simple and gentle push. No, we did not attempt to roll down any of them though! Except, except for two daring and seemingly powerful hikers. They pushed and pushed and pushed, but alas, to no avail. Not enough Cheerios for breakfast this morning.

The dirt trail quickly disappeared and now our only navigation reference without getting lost is to follow the white painted dots on the rocks. Without the dots, one can easily get lost in the maze of rocks with no clear path.

The dotted trail took us high along the rock ridges and in narrows where one had to squeeze to get through. Frequently we stopped on high ridges and admired the sceneries of the dark blue lake waters and the surrounding landscape of the Dells rocks. At one point we came upon a red wooden bridge that helped us leap across a wide crevice.

Despite the beaming down hot sun, some of us managed to have some fun with Lin doing her signature leap and Wendy enjoying for a moment her newly discovered coiffeur transformation into this dizzying long and flowing blond hair. What a quick and beautiful transformation!

From different points along the trail, we could see the low and the high level markings of the water line etched into the rocks.

There were many photos opportunities and we did not skimp on clicking our cameras’ shutters. As Lin eloquently said: how amazing it is that we all take pictures of the same scene, yet with different cameras, lenses, shutter speeds, each person’s picture is uniquely different.

At its narrowest point in the Dell rock formation a dam was built, thus creating this manmade lake.

Walking behind the dam in the riparian canyon there were large cottonwood trees, 50 to 80 feet tall and thriving. They provided us with a welcome relief under their shade. It is now 10:00 AM and it is getting hot with the sun glaring overhead and beaming down on us.

We regrouped here and proceeded towards the dam and the 75 or so stairs climb in order to reach the top of the rock formation. On this walk we noticed that the cottonwood trees were in full bloom and the seeds were being blown all over by the wind as if they were cotton balls, before they settle to the ground. It seemed as if it were snowing in May in Arizona.

We climb these 75 stairs to reach again the Dells rocks formation above the lake water surface and continue our hike up a tall rocky hill. The view from this vantage point was breathtaking. Nine of us decided to stop here at the peak, and what a better location to have our snacks break than from this pinnacle peak. The sun was beating down on us, but it was tempered by a nice and cool breeze.

The restaurant is in a historic building that dates back to 1883. A plaque in front of the restaurant tells its history.

Thank you all for participating. It was a great day.