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| Hiking | 5.24 Miles |
544 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.24 Miles | 2 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.50 mph |
| 544 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | This being my first time hiking the Granite Dells, I cannot attest to the remainder of the park, but at least along Peavine Trail, and in the Storm Trails, each trail intersection is marked by a map of the full Storm Trails system, with relevant terrain features, and a black dot indicating current location. In addition, all the Storm Trails' actual paths are marked by a spray-painted white dot every 100 ft. or so.
After picking up an excellent trail map at the trail register, we headed down the Peavine Trail. Such as “down” is. (Peavine only descends 200 ft. in 5.5 miles to AZ-89A.)
There were lots of birds — primarily geese, with some ducks and a single Great Blue Heron — on the shallow, muddy, southern shore of Watson Lake. They were too far away to shoot with my dinky pocket camera: I would have need a tripod and zoom lens. If you hear shots, it isn’t duck hunters, it is cops on the adjacent outdoor range. Mind the “CAUTION: Hazardous conditions exist. Please stay on trail.” signs. 
Captains Trail is only 0.72 miles, with 143 ft. of elevation gain. There’s a little bit of shade after a ⅓ of a mile, and some decent Watson Lake photo ops at the ½ mile mark. But there is better to come! Just before the end of Captains Trail, and the start of Easter Island Trail, there is a use trail off to the left. A few yards over is a rest bench and great views of Watson Lake, the Granite Dells and, in the distance, Granite Mountain. 
Easter Island Trail has even less shade than Captains Trail. After 250 yds. on Easter Island Trail, or maybe a ¼ mile from Peavine Trail, the vertical boulder which gives Easter Island Trail its name — it resembles the moai on Rapa Nui — came into view on our left. The trail wraps around the boulder, so Prescottstyle & I took photos from multiple angles & distances. It was warming up quick enough that Prescottstyle & I decided to forgo hiking out to the Flintstones-themed trails at the far end of the Storm Trails system. Instead, we turned up Big Rock Canyon Trail. 
Big Rock Canyon Trail starts just after the Easter Island boulder. It is only 0.28 miles long. Not exact the Appalachian Trail. While eyeing some shade, I got rattled. I looked high & low for the culprit, but could not spot him in the darkened rocks, branches and leaf litter. Prescottstyle & I kept moving. 
Boulder Creek Trail is 0.53 miles. Since we just took it back to Peavine Trail, I’m clueless how much AEG it might have. Certainly not Matterhorn, or even Glassford Hill, levels of gain. Boulder Creek did have some water, but the flow was so light it was inaudible.
We took Lakeshore Trail and Peavine Trail back to the trailhead. Thick clouds were rolling in. We made it to the covered picnic tables just as it began raining. 🌧
Hike Video: https://vimeo.com/486370765 |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Flowers were isolated in the Storm Trails system, but there were dense thickets of tall, yellow, sunflower-type flowers along Peavine Trail. |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
s on “e-bikes”. 
Route 
The Riparian area located at the southern TH was closed. Unsure the status of this area.
. Did this hike near the end of the day with my wife. Weather was awesome. Great times.
. Cool little area. 
