Prescott Hkes, Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 26 and 27, 2017

This past weekend was a lazy weekend - of our month in Prescott, it was the only weekend that I stayed in Prescott; the other four weekends I was teaching in either Sierra Vista, AZ or Johnson, VT.  So we mostly just took it easy.

On Tuesday, we went to Goldwater Lake Park.  It is a City of Prescott Park that is completely within the Prescott National Forest.  I had read that there were trails on both sides of this man made lake.  So we set off on the one described as the longer one along the south shore, about 3/4 of a mile each way.  The lake is in the mountains a couple of miles further up South Senator Highway from our rental in Prescott.  As we hiked along, we could that there were plenty of places to picnic, fish, walk and enjoy the beauty of the lake.

Alas, the trail only went so far. 

But much to my surprise, it was just the end of that part of the trail.  Patty found that the trail continued on to the dam.

When we got to the dam, Patty noticed this friendly fellow on the trail - he is about three inches from the end of one leg to the end of the opposite leg.

Since this was definitely the end of the trail (the dam and fences made it impossible to go any further), we returned on the route we had come.  There were many benches to sit and enjoy the peaceful scenery.

The trail in the city park connects with the trails in Prescott National Forest, so on the way back, we headed out on Trail 396 - it is a four mile trail that connects Senator Highway and Arizona Route 89.  And that is part of the 52 mile Prescott Circle Trail, and as the name indicates, circles the city of Prescott.  We went out for about 20 - 25 minutes and met this friendly fellow before we turned back and returned to the city park and our car.

On Wednesday, we drove to the other side of own and hiked the Flume Trail into the Watson Lake Loop, part of which overlaps with the Prescott Circle Trail.  Both the Flume and Watson Lake Loop go through the Prescott Granite Dells.  Wikipedia has what appears to be an accurate description of the Granite Dells:


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. Watson Lake and Willow Lake are small man-made reservoirs in this formation. ^[1]
The Peavine National Recreation Trail follows the former railbed of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway through the Granite Dells. This winding portion of the railroad was known as the "Peavine" because its twisting curves resembled that of a pea vine.^[2] It connects to the Iron King Trail,^[3] which follows the route of the old Prescott & Eastern Railroad through the eastern Granite Dells. Both are rail trail conversions.

The Flume Trail follows Watson Creek, the outflow of man made Lake Watson.  Watson Lake Loop circles the lake in just under five miles.  We hiked part of that loop, starting from the dam.

As we hiked, we came to a choice - steep or steeper.  We chose steep and the sign was as advertised - the trail took us fairly quickly from below the dam up to an overlook above the dam and Lake Watson.

We went back down the steep trail (again avoiding the steeper trail) and headed back on a trail that paralleled the Flume Trail - but instead of following Watson Creek, this trail took us across the tops of several of the dells before descending back to the trail head and our car. 

And so we had two days of nice, interesting hikes before I had to get ready for my Wednesday evening trip to Chicago and on to Vermont.

Prescott, Sierra Vista and Phoenix, Sept. 10 - 23

On Sunday, Sept. 10, we returned to the Lynx Lake area and hiked the Lynx Ruins trail, a pleasant hike out to remains of Native American homes that where inhabited from about 1150 to 1300 A.D.

There were signs along the way and benches.  There were also numbered areas for a self guided tour, but there were no brochures for the tour so we did not always know what they wanted us to see at each spot.

There was a nice observation deck at the top of the hill from which you could see the ruins and the surrounding area.

We then hiked south back to the parking lot and headed further south on the 305 trail towards Lynx Lake.  There are still wildflowers in bloom, even this late in September in the high desert.

On Monday the 11th, we drove to Phoenix for the day.  Patty had a doctor's appointment.  We met with the owner of the upstairs condo and discovered that in July, when replacing the garbage disposal, they had a minor flood - this is what had caused the water damage to our kitchen.

I took a walk and found some problems with the Carlyle property from the 8th Place side (the east side of the condo property) - graffiti and trash outside the fence, but on the condo property.  Even though I am no longer on the board, I still called this in to our property manager.

We had a couple of quiet days in Prescott.  On Friday the 15th, I drove to Phoenix and printed out one copy of the exams for my Wayland classes and went to Staples Office Supply for more ink for the printer.  Then it was on to Sierra Vista for class from 5:30 to 9:00, a quiet stay at the Gateway Studios Hotel, and class on the morning of Saturday the 16th.  Then it was five plus hours drive back to Prescott, arriving for a late dinner around 7:30.

On Monday the 18th, we went back to Phoenix again for running errands and a follow up doctor appointment for Patty.  And then Anne and Shawn came to visit us for four days, arriving on Tuesday the 19th for dinner - they brought a roast and Patty made a wonderful ratatouille.  We had several days enjoying wine, food and good company.  We ate lunch at Murphy's, visited Anne's friend Betty at her home by Goldwater Lake (about six miles further up Senator Highway into Prescott National Forest) and went exploring other VRBO rentals for 2018 summer.

On Friday the 22nd, I drove into Phoenix for errands and for time at the Desert Botanical Garden - I attended the annual fall training for volunteer docents and the optional training for the new "Behind the Scenes" tours they want us to lead.

And on Saturday the 23rd, I spent the only full Saturday I would have at the Prescott Rental - the 2nd and the 16th I taught classes in Sierra Vista, and the 9th and 30th I taught classes in Vermont.  The Juniper Cottage has been a pleasant relief from the heat of Phoenix and we need to make a reservation here or for some other rental for summer 2018.

Prescott, AZ, and Vermont, Sept. 4 - 9, 2017

We had a couple of quiet, lazy days over Labor Day and the next two days in Prescott.  Unfortunately, there are no sidewalks on the streets around us.  The side roads have limited traffic so that is fine, but South Senator Road is a fairly busy street.  I did walk on it one morning and found the lanes are generally wide enough so that traffic can pass pedestrians, but there is not a lot of room to step off the road.  Here are some views from South Senator Road looking west towards the south side of Prescott where Arizona Route 89 heads south towards Wickenburg.

Here are some exterior views of our rental in Prescott.  The first shows the driveway from Karen Drive, the second shows the driveway from South Senator Road, and the third shows the front of the house from Juniper Drive.

Wednesday evening, Patty drove me to the Arizona Shuttle office, I took the 7:00 p.m. shuttle and arrived promptly at the Phoenix airport at 9:00.  I was upgraded to first class on the 10:45 p.m. red eye flight to Newark and slept some.  I had breakfast and worked on classes at the United Club in Newark, then caught the morning flight to Burlington.  I picked up the rental car and drove to Johnson State, arriving around noon.  As JSC and Lyndon State consolidate into Northern Vermont University, I had to get an interim change in my ID card and pick up keys for my office and the class room I use - adjunct faculty have to turn in the keys at the end of each semester and then pick them up again at the start of the next semester - I had turned in my keys last December and will turn these keys in this December.

I got lunch, worked in my office, met with different people and then drove to the Smugglers Notch Inn in Jeffersonville.  I went out for my evening walk and saw some nice clouds in the evening sky.

And the leaves on the maple tree in the front of the Inn have started to turn into colorful foliage.

On my morning walk Friday, I was thinking about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma as they are all over the news now - then I saw this sign about Cambridge being "Storm Ready" (Jeffersonville is a village that is part of Cambridge).

I have seen many signs on churches, but I do not recall seeing one that advertised all the services they provide - plus I failed to take a photo of the large rainbow colored flag that welcomes all people.

The picture of the tree above was from the west Thursday evening.  This is the same tree from the east on Friday morning, with the front of the Inn to the left.

My class Friday went well, including the technology - no blips so far.  Last year, there was one session where the technology failed and I used my cellphone as a speakerphone for us at JSC and a student used his phone as a speakerphone at LSC.  The Power Point slides were online, so we managed to get through.  This time everything worked as expected - the only minor glitches were that sometimes there was feedback from the mikes at LSC and the changing of slides was delayed at LSC.

After class, I went to the Fledermaus Tea House to visit Renate and Glenn.  They had changed their second home from a long term rental to now having it as AirBnB rental.  We had lattes and I had a piece of pineapple upside down cake that had some chocolate chunks mixed in - very good.

Driving through Jeffersonville, I had seen that there were a lot of changes.  The bridge on the bike path had been removed and things were being rebuilt.  Things had changed with the silos, so on my morning walk Saturday, I decided to explore.  First, I went to the silos and walked around one to see the artwork on all sides.

Besides art work, there is even a bush growing out of one side and the art works around it.

I thought perhaps this had something to do with the new Union Bank branch on the south side of Route 15 just west of the traffic circle junction with Route 108.  

I continued on to the other silo and walked around it as well. 

Finally, on the other side, I found this very small sign about 100 feet away - each page is a small 8" by 11" piece of paper telling about the Silo Project by the Cambridge Arts Council.  It has taken an old building site that was somewhat of an eyesore and changed it into an attractive area with open park like land.  I will have to explore more on my next visit.

I then passed by the Smugglers Notch Distillery across the street and have added that to the list of places to explore more on a future trip.

I had seen the work being done on the bike path (actually the Railtrail) from Route 15, but then found that there was more work being done and connecting the trail to a park and other towns - again, more places for me to explore on a future trip.

Class went well Saturday from 10:00 to 1:00, then I drove through Westford (to check out our old haunts) on the way to the Burlington Airport where I walked several miles to get my steps in.  I napped on the flight to Chicago, then had a bite to eat and glass of wine while I worked in the United Club.  I was upgraded to first class on the flight to Phoenix, so I got a small glass of wine on the plane before departure - and I slept for most of the four hour flight.  We arrived a few minutes early, so I was able to get the 10:15 shuttle to Prescott (rather than the 11:15 shuttle on which I was scheduled).  I arrived in Prescott around midnight, took a taxi to our rental house and was in bed before 1:00.  Another good week and trip with good classes.  Life is good.