A search of our website did not result in any hike undertaken around Willow Lake, north of Prescott. We’ve done two hikes in recent years at Watson Lake, a sister man-made lake. Both lakes are adjacent to each other, separated only by highway 89A. Willow Lake is the larger of the two lakes. So, it was decided to undertake such a hike and to add it to our website inventory of “done hikes”.

This is a loop hike around the lake. The pictures in this report capture some unusual rock formations tempered by the blue azure lake waters and blue skies with scattered high clouds. The weather was ideal: high in the low 70’s and low in the mid 40’s, a typical fall day in Prescott.

In order to appreciate the rock formations, it will be necessary to explain their origins and formation.

The Granite Dells, a geological feature north of Prescott, Arizona, consist of exposed bedrock and large boulders of granite that have eroded into an unusual lumpy, rippled appearance. Willow Lake is a small man-made reservoir in this formation. This, combined with numerous hiking and biking trails and rock climbing routes, makes it a popular outdoor recreation area in the region. 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.

Hiking in Prescott’s Granite Dell is like getting lost in a Stone Age labyrinth. The network of paths, on the north shore of Willow Lake, coil through hulking quartz-studded granite buttes squeezing in and out on the paths in heaving accordion style. The rugged meandering loop trails move seamlessly from claustrophobically tight spaces to airy exposed promontories with unobstructed vista. The trail follows spray painted white dots on these rocks and serve as directional beacons.

At 7:00 AM, 17 Trailblazers hikers met at Fry’s parking lot on I-17 and Bell Road. Dave French, our 18th star hiker was to meet us at the intersection of Rts. 169 & 69. He was driving from his summer abode near Flagstaff. Carpools arrangements completed, we headed north to Prescott but not before our usual midpoint stop at Cordes Junction. Maps in hand, we navigate through the streets of Prescott and enter the trailhead parking lot at a lake side northern parking lot. We saddle up and pose for our traditional group picture. At about 9:30 AM we start our hike of 5.8 miles.

The official elevation range was from a low of 5,073 feet to a high of 5,225 feet. Some would rate this loop trail as easy and others, easy to moderate. Mind you that elevation hiking, when not accustomed, is more difficult due to the rarefaction of oxygen in the air. The hiker would feel fatigued much more readily and would thirst more. Hydration, when hiking, is very important.

We chose to follow the most scenic trails which hugged the water front. Our first trail was the Willow Lake Trail which connected us to the Approach Trail, which crossed the Red Bridge, yes, a real Red Bridge.

Michael had to test the strength of the bridge. OK signal. Now everybody crosses the bridge.

The trail then looped down behind the dam where we come upon a patch of thick foliage of various shrubs and trees but most notably huge cottonwood trees. Three of us, Michael, Linda and John, ignore the “no trespassing” posted sign and proceed to get closer to the base of the dam to investigate its structure. No leaks or cracks. It is a sound dam. This is a very small dam by all standards; however, we were dwarfed by its height.

In past years, water used to flow out at the base of the dam and hence the large cottonwood trees. But in recent years, the park services rerouted the flow of water. The reservoir water level was 6 to 7 feet below its high point.

Look carefully at the water markings on the dell rocks forming the shore line. From the base of the dam, we climbed some 70 to 100 man-made steps that led us to the top of the dell rock formation where we rejoined our fellow hikers. We just climbed the “Steps” as the map indicates. At the top we connect with the East Bay Trail, a water front trail and very scenic. It seems that about half the time we were climbing or descending rock formations. These rock formations were smooth, full of crevasses and treacherous. One misstep and you could find yourself tumbling down the side of the rock formations with plenty of scrapes and bruises to show for it.

Fortunately, no one slipped or fell or had a scratch. The old adage still holds true that “whatever goes up must come down” and we had plenty of both.

It makes you wonder how one can navigate on the rocks, when there is no traditional dirt trails to follow? Thanks to the ingenuity of the Park Services and maybe with some divine intervention, someone came up with the idea of painting on the rock “White Dots” three inches in diameter and interspaced every 15 feet or so apart. They were quite visible on the brown, red or gray dell granite rock formations. Besides the White Dots markings, at various trail intersections there were posted map signs of the lake and the trail with a highlighted large “dot” indicating our current position on the trail. This was sort of stationary GPS for hikers.

The lake waters looked blue, azure, however, near the shoreline, one could easily see the green algae. Ruddy ducks, Coots, Cinnamon and Green-winged Teals, double-crested and Neotropic Cormorants seemed to like floating close to the shoreline where they feed on algae or small marine creatures and fish.

About 2 miles into our hike, at the highest point above the dam, we stopped for a short rest to hydrate and eat our lunch or snacks.

After the lunch break we proceeded to make our last descent from the dell rock formations and headed towards a prairie that formed the southern part of the lake perimeter. Hereinafter, the trail becomes flat and our pace picks up speed. A few weeks ago, the summer monsoon rains raised the dam water level. At the southern end of the lake, the land is flat and shallow thus creating a marsh with plenty of suitable lush marshy vegetation of broad leaves plants and tall grass. Since then, however, the water receded but part of the original loop trail was still inundated by the lake water. Hikers have created a new quasi trail further south amidst the tall grass. How tall is the grass? See for yourself.

With the onset of the fall season, the marsh plants started to turn into colorful red, brown yellow and orange. After crossing the marsh land, we linked up with the Willow Lake Trail, a flat and fairly wide trail which will take us around the southern and eastern banks of the lake and back to our parking lot at the trailhead.

Out of the 18 hikers, nine of us had to get back early to Phoenix. We bid our good byes and the remainder 9 hikers capped off the day’s activity with our traditional late lunch or early dinner at Murphy’s Restaurant in downtown Prescott. The restaurant building is on the Historic Preservation list of the City of Prescott as the plaque attests to it.

It was a fun-filled day, with great weather, cardio exercises, camaraderie, and we conquered another new trail to be added to our repertoire of trails hiked by the Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club. Everyone made it home safely.