Willow Lake is like the quiet, hands-in-his-pockets, unassuming brother to its neighbor, the more popular, vibrant and beloved Watson Lake. Both lakes are situated on the edge of Prescott, Arizona, and they share the wonders of the stunning rock formations known as the Granite Dells. Willow Lake is on the west side of the Dells and Watson Lake is on the east side, and miles of hiking trails roam through the vast acreage of boulders between them.
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After taking in lots of “WOW” sunset moments at Watson Lake, we finally went over to Willow Lake to see what was there. It was midday and the light was harsh, but what a beautiful place it turned out to be. We wished we’d gone there earlier in our Prescott RV trip!
We started at the Willow Lake boat ramp on the north shore and were surprised to see waves incessantly lapping the shore and the trees trunks! The lake level was very high and the wind was strong that day.
High water on a windy day at Willow Lake.
Along the shore of Willow Lake there were huge expanses of boulders, and we were soon hopping from one to another. There were fabulous patterns in the rocks, like veins running all through them.
Colorful veins meander through these rocks by Willow Lake.
Buddy was on the lookout for any stray ground squirrels that might be scampering about. Mark caught him up on his lookout perch from below.
“Is there a squirrel down there?”
I see you!
Some of the rocks in the Dells had quite a bit of color.
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Suddenly we heard the familiar haunting cry of a Gambel’s quail. I just love the way these guys dress up with very dapper trim on their bodies and faces and that wonderful little topknot on their heads.
All dressed up and ready to go!
“Are you taking my picture? I wasn’t ready yet!”
We noticed a young man expertly navigating the crazy boulder formations and discovered he’s a local who hikes around the Dells around Willow Lake all the time. He highly recommended that we follow a trail that headed to the north and east past an RV park on the edge of the Dells, and he mentioned intriguing things we’d see, including a red bench and a bridge.
This sounded like fun, so off we went.
“C’mon, Dad, let’s go find that red bench!”
As we hiked away from Willow Lake, we saw some wonderful old trees and lots of massive expanses of boulders.
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We came to a sign with a large map on it and could clearly see the trail that went to the red bench. Woo hoo! This was definitely a really cool area. We hiked along the trail for quite a while.
But then the trail suddenly went straight up a boulder hill. Mark stayed below while Buddy and I checked it out. At the top it seemed like we were standing in a sea of boulders, but I sure didn’t see a red bench or a bridge anywhere.
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On the way down we met a couple hiking the Willow Lake trails with a dog. After the pups introduced themselves with a few sniffs, I asked the couple where the heck the red bench was. It turned out we’d missed a fork in the trail and had taken the Ascent Trail instead of the Red Bench Trail. Oops!
Oh well. What we saw was still cool and it was a beautiful day to be out hiking.
Suddenly, a mountain biker rode over the boulders past us. Wow! Then his friend appeared and the two of them rode up and down the boulders like experts. What fun!
Don’t try this at home!
These mountain bikers at Willow Lake made it look so easy.
Weeeee!
Buddy watched the mountain bikers for a moment, but he was much more interested in athletes of the rodent kind.
“Not just rodents, Mom. I’ll chase anything that moves. Lizards are good!”
Willow Lake is definitely worth a visit, and we’ll be back at sunrise or sunset next time to add a dash of color to our photos. In the meantime, we found a few more photos of the Granite Dells at Watson Lake buried in our computers along with some more lovely shots of Lynx Lake that we thought you’d enjoy.
Here you go — the Granite Dells and cactus flowers at Watson Lake:
Granite Dells at Watson Lake (next door to Willow Lake).
Granite Dells under a full moon.
Red cactus flowers in the Dells.
Happy cactus flowers smiling at the world.
Look for these red beauties in the springtime!
And here’s the southeastern corner of Lynx Lake where the water trickles into the lake and forms wonderful shallow pools on its way:
A trickle of water flows into Lynx Lake in Arizona
The pools of water in the southeast corner of Lynx Lake are as clear as glass.
A glorious sunset reflected at Lynx Lake, Arizona
A reflected archway in the lake.
Goodnight!
We really enjoyed our brief RV trip to explore the lakes in the area around Prescott Arizona. There are actually even more lakes nearby that were on our list but we didn’t get to…so now we have to go back, and we will!
Buddy is looking forward to exploring the Prescott area some more.
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More info about Prescott and the Granite Dells:
- Location of Willow Lake – Google Maps
- Basic Willow Lake Info – from the City of Prescott
- Info about the Granite Dells – Includes a virtual tour
Other blog posts about the lakes near Prescott, Arizona:
- Granite Dells at Watson Lake near Prescott AZ – SPECTACULAR!
- Lynx Lake, Arizona – Great RV Camping Near Prescott!
More fun articles from the cool pines in Arizona:
- 20 Years Later! Hassayampa Inn and The Dells
- Grand Canyon – A Winter Wonderland with Snow!
- Grand Canyon History: A Navajo & a Mule Link Us to the Past
- Grand Canyon South Rim RV Tips + Lesser Known Overlooks!
- Grand Canyon South Rim RV Trip – Views, Views, VIEWS!!
- Grand Canyon’s North Rim – Breathtaking Bright Angel Point!
- Grand Canyon’s North Rim – Its Better Half?
- Grand Canyon’s North Rim – Magnificent & Intimate by Day or Night!
- Granite Dells at Watson Lake near Prescott AZ – SPECTACULAR!
- Lynx Lake, Arizona – Great RV Camping Near Prescott!
- Parowan UT, Las Vegas NV, Williams AZ & Sycamore Canyon AZ – Wow!
- Petrified Forest NP and Mogollon Rim – Cool pines & hot rocks in AZ!
- Point Sublime – A Wild Ride to a Stunning Overlook in Grand Canyon!
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- Timp Point – A Private View of Grand Canyon’s Majesty
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- Williams, Arizona – Home of the Grand Canyon Railway!
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Great post and pics, Mark, Emily and Buddy. Reminds me of exploring the granite quarries in Rockport. Glad you showed some pics from former visits – especially loved the cheerful red flowers. Love, Mom
That’s exactly what I thought of as we climbed around on the boulders. It brought back great memories and brought out the kids in each of us. Such fun!!
Another beautiful spot we missed while we “lived” in Flagstaff! Great photos as usual. I was able to use your Google Maps link to see how far it was from Flagstaff, and it was a good trip. Without the internet, we were never aware of the beauty all around us!
It would have been a long daytrip from Flag but an ideal weekend getaway. The historic Hassayampa Inn sometimes offers romantic weekend getaway packages to lure people to Prescott, complete with mints on the pillow. Back in the pre-internet days we all had to rely on word of mouth from friends, magazines, books, miscellaneous photos we bumped into, and visitors centers brochures, if there were any for a given area. I met a gal who grew up near Horseshoe Bend in Arizona. She had ho idea it was there and neither did her friends. No one ever went there or saw it. Nowadays so many busloads of people visit every day they had to revamp the entire road and parking area to accommodate everyone! It’s amazing how much the internet has opened up the beautiful places in this world for all to see.