Peavine Trail

Seven Skyliners (Gordon Bice, Miriam Sterling, Collene Maktenieks, Daisy Williams, Ellis Price and two others) traveled to Prescott on 27 February 2010 to hike on the Peavine Trail. We took Hwy 89A south through Jerome and across Mingus Mountain to the intersection with US 89. We then traveled south toward Prescott on US 89 to Prescott Lakes Parkway, turned left and went about another third of a mile before turning left on Sundog Ranch Road at the Humane Society. The turnoff to the trailhead parking lot is about 275 yards ahead on the left.

The Peavine Trail follows the bed of the old Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix (SFP&P) Railway. It connected Prescott to the Santa Fe mainline at Ashfork (from 1893) and Phoenix through skull Valley, Congress and Wickenburg (from1895). The Santa Fe line into Prescott was discontinued in 1984. It was known as the Peavine because of its wandering route and serpentine trestles.

We hiked for just over three miles along the Peavine Trail before arriving at the junction with Iron King Trail. Along the way we were presented with great views of the Granite Dells. A couple of representative examples are displayed on the following page.

Looking into the Granite Dells from Peavine Trail.

The following information was posted at the junction of Peavine and Iron King Trails.

A view of Peavine Trail running along the old railroad bed through the Granite Dells

General information                                      Mountain lion warning

we had a choice (right): we could bear left and continue on the Peavine Trail which would end at Side Road, just off Hwy 89A, about 1.8 miles ahead, we could take the Iron King Trail, or we could have lunch here and turn back. Since it was not quite lunchtime we decided to continue on and even though the Mountain Lion Warning seemed to pertain to the Iron King Trail, we chose to go that way because it is relatively new and no one in our group had hiked it before.

Along the way I was intrigued by a perfectly-formed hedgehog cactus while the rest of the group were more interested in old rail-cars positioned along the trail:

Hedgehog cactus                                         NOT playing on the rail-car

Please note that Gordon and Collene are NOT playing on the rail-car. A small sign posted nearby specifically prohibits that.

We hiked about 1.15 miles on Iron King Trail before stopping to eat. After lunch we continued for about another tenth of a mile in order to look down into Prescott Valley before turning back. Iron King Trail apparently ends at Glassford Hill Road near Tuscany Way in Prescott Valley.

After looking out over Prescott Valley and the Yavapai County Fairgrounds, we turned and headed back with the intention of taking a side trail through the Dells along Watson Lake for part of the way.

View looking down Iron King Trail toward the junction with Peavine

Earlier, while we were hiking on Peavine to the junction with Iron King, we had noted that Lakeshore Trail wound its way through the Granite Dells running parallel to Peavine and between it and Watson Lake. We decided that we would take that trail back as it looked like a nice alternative to hiking along the relatively straight and level Peavine Trail.

Lakeshore Trail lived up to our expectations. With all the winding and climbing required to follow the trail through the Dells, the distance turned out to be only about three-quarters of a mile further than continuing along Peavine. The close-up views within the Dells and those across Watson Lake were well worth the extra effort. Several photographs are included on the following pages.

View of the Dells from Lakeshore Trail

View across Watson Lake from Thumb Butte near Lakeshore Trail

Magnified view across Watson Lake from Thumb Butte

View from Lakeshore Trail looking back toward Peavine Trail

View across Watson Lake from Lakeshore Trail

After approximately 1.75 miles of hiking through the Dells alongside Watson Lake, we came back out on Peavine Trail about 1 mile short of the south trailhead.

The total hiking distance for this hike was 9.6 miles according to my GPS and the total elevation change was approximately 100 feet. The GPS track is shown on the included map (below).

(NOTE: A small variation in measured hiking distance is possible for this trail, depending on where one chooses to start measuring. The logical possibilities are: where one parks, the location of the kiosk and toilets, or the actual point where one enters the old railway bed. I chose to start when I left the car.)