On Friday the 27th, Habitat ReStore staff and volunteers had happy hour at the Prescott Brewing Company in downtown Prescott. From our rental, I walked south on Gail Gardner Way, then east on Fair Street, then south on Miller Valley Road, then east on Gurley Street to the Prescott Brewoing Company bar and restaurant - a bit less than two miles in about 35 minutes. On my way south on Miller Valley Road, just south of Bannen Street, Miller Creek crosses under the street. I noticed that the creekside trail can be accessed from the south side of the creek.
On Sunday morning, Patty and I decided to go downtown to the Williamson Valley Fire Department Arts and Crafts Fair held on Courthouse Plaza, just across the street from the building where the Prescott Brewing Company is located. I chose to walk, because I wanted to check out the creekside trail. When I saw the trail Friday, I noticed that it went west from Miller Valley Road back towards our rental. So I tried to access the trail off of Fair Street where the creek crosses under the street. Unfortunately, I could not find the access point, so I ended up back on Fair Street going east, then walked south on Miller Valley Road to the creek. The access point is just south of where the creek goes under the road, but before getting down on the trail, I took this photo of the trail and foot bridge from the bridge up on Miller Valley Road.
When I got down to the trail I learned that the bridge was built as an Eagle Scout project.
I became interested in the creek side trails because of an article in the Daily Courier - the local paper gave mixed reviews of the trail system. The trail was mostly in the shade of the trees on both sides of the creek.
In many places, the adjacent businesses and homes wanted to have nothing to do with the trail.
In some places, the city has built nice foot bridges across the flowing water.
There were also benches at numerous location.
There were several trails and I ended up leaving the Butte Creek trail at the Tom Pettit's Community Park on Montezuma St., just across from the intersection with Sheldon St.
I walked the last couple of blocks south on Montezuma St. and ended up at the north entrance to the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza on Gurley St. While waiting for Patty to drive downtown, I noticed that just as there was a timeline on the sidewalk up to the Prescott Library, there is a timeline in the sidewalk here.
The courthouse is over one hundred years old and is quite stately. There is a large, life sized sculpture of a cowboy on his horse.
After Patty arrived, we started to walk around the plaza to see what the artisans had for sale. The plaza has many large trees, including the Statehood Tree, planted in 1912 when Arizona became the 48th state - the last of the continental territories to do so.
We wandered at a leisurely pace by the vendors' tents.
I saw this one tent that reminded me of Martha's jewelry making and my spending time one December at the Vermont Artisan's space in Burlington Center Mall.
Patty and I came across this memorial to Mike, the community dog - it made me think of Sam, Mr. Shadow and Stowe, the three dogs in our family over the past 40 years.
After about 90 minutes, Patty headed off to the Peregrine Book Store and then to Target. I chose to walk back, but by a different route. I went to the southwest corner of the plaza to head west to the El Gato Azul restaurant, as I knew there was a staircase there from the street to the trail.
Near downtown, there were a couple of businesses who treated the trail as a second front for their businesses, one on the street and one on the trail.
At one spot, there was a series of community murals on one of the retaining walls.
This coffee shop had tables outside accessible from the trail, from the coffee shop and from the street.
As mentioned in the article linked above, the creek side trails could be a real asset, but they need a lot of work. While I saw people walking, even some with baby strollers, and several on bicycles, I also saw three places where homeless people had set up camps. As mentioned above, the bulk of my time on the trail was in the shade - so even though I was on the trail in the heat of the day, walking in the shade of the trees made it quite tolerable.
On Sunday morning, Patty and I decided to go downtown to the Williamson Valley Fire Department Arts and Crafts Fair held on Courthouse Plaza, just across the street from the building where the Prescott Brewing Company is located. I chose to walk, because I wanted to check out the creekside trail. When I saw the trail Friday, I noticed that it went west from Miller Valley Road back towards our rental. So I tried to access the trail off of Fair Street where the creek crosses under the street. Unfortunately, I could not find the access point, so I ended up back on Fair Street going east, then walked south on Miller Valley Road to the creek. The access point is just south of where the creek goes under the road, but before getting down on the trail, I took this photo of the trail and foot bridge from the bridge up on Miller Valley Road.
When I got down to the trail I learned that the bridge was built as an Eagle Scout project.
I became interested in the creek side trails because of an article in the Daily Courier - the local paper gave mixed reviews of the trail system. The trail was mostly in the shade of the trees on both sides of the creek.
In many places, the adjacent businesses and homes wanted to have nothing to do with the trail.
In some places, the city has built nice foot bridges across the flowing water.
There were also benches at numerous location.
The trail went past the Prescott Community Gardens.
There were several trails and I ended up leaving the Butte Creek trail at the Tom Pettit's Community Park on Montezuma St., just across from the intersection with Sheldon St.
I walked the last couple of blocks south on Montezuma St. and ended up at the north entrance to the Yavapai County Courthouse Plaza on Gurley St. While waiting for Patty to drive downtown, I noticed that just as there was a timeline on the sidewalk up to the Prescott Library, there is a timeline in the sidewalk here.
The courthouse is over one hundred years old and is quite stately. There is a large, life sized sculpture of a cowboy on his horse.
After Patty arrived, we started to walk around the plaza to see what the artisans had for sale. The plaza has many large trees, including the Statehood Tree, planted in 1912 when Arizona became the 48th state - the last of the continental territories to do so.
We wandered at a leisurely pace by the vendors' tents.
I saw this one tent that reminded me of Martha's jewelry making and my spending time one December at the Vermont Artisan's space in Burlington Center Mall.
Patty and I came across this memorial to Mike, the community dog - it made me think of Sam, Mr. Shadow and Stowe, the three dogs in our family over the past 40 years.
After about 90 minutes, Patty headed off to the Peregrine Book Store and then to Target. I chose to walk back, but by a different route. I went to the southwest corner of the plaza to head west to the El Gato Azul restaurant, as I knew there was a staircase there from the street to the trail.
Near downtown, there were a couple of businesses who treated the trail as a second front for their businesses, one on the street and one on the trail.
At one spot, there was a series of community murals on one of the retaining walls.
This coffee shop had tables outside accessible from the trail, from the coffee shop and from the street.
As mentioned in the article linked above, the creek side trails could be a real asset, but they need a lot of work. While I saw people walking, even some with baby strollers, and several on bicycles, I also saw three places where homeless people had set up camps. As mentioned above, the bulk of my time on the trail was in the shade - so even though I was on the trail in the heat of the day, walking in the shade of the trees made it quite tolerable.
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