Day Trip from Phoenix: Watson Lake
One of the things we miss the most prior to having kids is the ability to take a random trip on the whim. Before having kids we’d just turn to each other and say let’s go! San Diego and back in one day: done. Las Vegas Friday after work and back for my Sunday shift: done. Grand Canyon for tomorrow’s sunrise: done. For this trip, I said, heck with it, let’s do a mini version an impromptu trip. It was 3pm on a Sunday and decided to get in the car and drive. It was a great decision!
We looked at the map and asked, where have we not been that we can drive to for sunset? Boom! Watson Lake it was. We’d actually heard great things about Prescott overall and had seen plenty of pictures of Watson Lake but had not been yet.
We got there just before the park closed it’s gates for more visitors (great time to go by the way).
How to get there
Watson Lake is located north of Phoenix and southwest of Sedona. The drive only took about one hour and forty five minutes. Click here to get the directions.
Cost
The only cost is a small $3 parking fee. Way worth the cost for the views alone!
Hours
During the summer late April - September the park opens at 7a and closes at 10p.
In the winter it’s 7a to sunset.
I love that these pictures above turned out so beautiful but there’s a funny story to them.
During this trip, we had to walk down to the lake, it’s about a quarter of a mile down from the parking. Oh! Also there are giant boulders to walk and climb over in order to get a good view of the lake. Augie did NOT want us to hold her hand or pick her up and by “not” I mean a blood curling scream so loud that I’m anyone in the radius of 2 miles could hear us if we attempted to do either of those things. We HAD to hold her hand on the walk and we HAD to pick her up when we were walking up the boulders. We had to stop for a few minutes to let Augie calm, you can see in the first one she’s still crying because Alex was holding her. No one ever said traveling with kids is easy!
A little history
Watson Lake, while downright beautiful, is not natur'e’s gift but instead it’s manmade! Granite Creek was damed up in 1915 creating this scenic lake. People of the city of Prescott were excited to have a supply of water to their mining town.
Little known fact: Prescott was actually the state capitol twice, once in 1864 losing it’s place to Tucson in 1867. It gained its title back in 1877 until Phoenix took over in 1889.
We loved our trip up to Watson Lake. Short enough drive with great sunset views. Love all that Arizona has to offer!
