- [Ike] Surrounded by 1.2 million acres of prime national forest and an average temperature of 70 degrees, the city of Prescott firmly establishes itself as the destination for recreation.

With miles of trails, parks and lakes, it's a place to just get away from it all.

But Prescott is also a town that elects feelings of nostalgia, especially at its town plaza.

Prescott was founded in 1864 at the request of Congress and President Abraham Lincoln in an effort to secure the area's mineral riches for union forces during the Civil War.

Prescott was named after the storied William Hickling Prescott and became an American landing space as a result of the nation's westward expansion.

It was once Arizona's territorial capital and county seat.

And one look at its town plaza shows the town's Midwestern and Eastern roots.

That makes Prescott unique and it's the place we're taking the time to explore today, not only some of its hiking and biking trails, but also its history.

(gentle clattering) (dynamic orchestral music) (upbeat folk music) - [Narrator] Trail Mix'd is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

(upbeat folk music) Additional support provided by.

- [Narrator] SRP is staying ahead of the valley's growing energy needs.

We're investing in one of the country's largest solar battery storage projects to deliver power that's as reliable as it is sustainable.

- [Narrator] Albertson's Safeway pharmacies and Valley Nonprofit Mission of Mercy are proud to support cancer awareness.

They encourage you to talk to your doctor, get recommended screenings, and don't forget your flu vaccine.

More information at Albertsons or Safeway.com.

- [Narrator] Whitfill Nursery proud to support 6 Arizona PBS, a valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona-grown trees, citrus, and palms, complete custom design and installation, and Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

WhitfillNursery.com - [Narrator] And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- I'm Ike Easley.

and today, all roads lead to beautiful, green, historic Prescott.

We'll go lakeside and hike a trail under the shade of some lovely ponderosa pines.

Plus, we'll take a bike ride on the historic Peavine Trail, one of the few Rails-to-Trails projects in the state of Arizona.

And later, we'll briefly leave the trails for the gym to get a lesson in rock climbing from a champion climber who had a hand in developing the sport.

Are you ready?

Oh, you know I'm ready.

Trail Mix'd starts right now.

During the 19th century, Arizona's legislative body didn't have a permanent home, but it did have a nickname.

It was called the Capital on Wheels because the legislative body moved between the northern and southern part of the state so often.

The Arizona State capital was relocated four times before settling in Phoenix, but it twice belonged to Prescott after the US government named it the state capital.

- So, Prescott was actually named the territorial capital of Arizona in 1864.

And that happened when the territorial governor's party was actually visiting Fort Whipple, and they were exploring the area, seeing the rolling hills, the Ponderosa pines, the water.

The mining industry was close by and they said, "This is the place, this needs to be the capital of Arizona."

And it was designated as such in May of 1864.

And thus, here we are today in what was once the territorial capital of Arizona.

- The historic downtown district runs north and south on Montezuma Street.

In fact, Prescott is home to over 800 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

The courthouse celebrated its centennial in 2016 and cases are still heard there to this very day.

The place wears its history well.

You can read through Prescott's colorful historical timeline imprinted on cement right in front of the courthouse.

There's so much history.

Speaking of the history, I see this cowboy statue.

I'm seeing world's oldest rodeo on this building.

What is the cowboy culture and history here?

- We do have a lot of cowboy culture and you've probably heard of three famous cowboys who used to call Prescott home, Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers, Wyatt and Virgil.

- Ooh.

- They used to roam these streets and Doc Holliday actually shot someone in the Palace Saloon.

So there's all sorts of museums here in Prescott that you can explore the cowboy culture and that's why we're known as experience Prescott, true west, real adventure.

- It would seem that Prescott is also built on a legacy of those first true Western adventurers here.

In its town square, there's a statue of Buckey O'Neill, once a Prescott resident or one of Teddy Roosevelt's rough riders.

The town's lovely old Yavapai County Courthouse draws visitors from all over Arizona and the world.

The town's rough and tumble past and its cowboy charm only adds to its allure.

Residents and visitors alike come to sit and relax in the square.

And when they get antsy, there's always a trail to hit.

- Prescott is known as true west, real adventure.

And the adventure part comes in because we have over 450 miles of outdoor trail systems.

You can enjoy that on two wheels, on horseback, on foot, but there's also chances to get out there on the water.

We have lakes.

You can kayak, you can fish.

There's so many ways to get out there and enjoy the outdoors.

And Prescott is that place to get out there and experience true west and real adventure.

- [Ike] And that's where we pick it up next.

Near the turn of the century if you lived in a town that had a railroad, you were doing pretty good.

Prescott had two railroads.

The first went belly up after just five years.

But in 1893, the Santa Fe Prescott Phoenix Railway began a 91-year run.

Today, that railway's legacy lives on at the Prescott Peavine National Recreation Trail.

(bright easy-listening music) - I would just say in terms of the Peavine Trail itself, it is one of the most historic trails in our area because of that collaboration with the railway system building that transportation through there.

But it's also one of the most beautiful places to discover in Prescott.

It's one of my favorite trails to be out there because you can see the Granite Dells, you see Watson Lake, you get the view of Thumb Butte, then you can look off in the distance and see the San Francisco peaks.

So it's one of our gems in Prescott for sure.

- [Ike] The Peavine is one of more than 2,000 Rails-to-Trails projects in the United States.

- So the Peavine Trail, it used to be a railway.

That's why it's so wide.

And the railway used to lead to a copper mine.

- [Ike] The six mile out-and-back trail can be hiked or biked, but today, I'm going to try it on a e-bike.

- An e-bike is an electric bicycle.

It's an electric bicycle.

It has two things.

It has a motor and a battery.

The battery connects to the motor, and with the motor, it's able to assist the rider.

(bright easy-listening music) - [Ike] The Peavine Trail begins just south of the Watson Lake near the lush Watson Woods Riparian Preserve.

The pathway is wide and there's room for hikers and bikers.

- It's very beautiful.

So you'll be going through a little gap between some trees.

And during the springtime, those trees will start to blossom.

- It was nice.

The Peavine's a flat trail so it's easy to get to.

We actually park on the other side of Watson Lake and walk through the riparian area, which is nice.

Get a little shade, see the creek and all that.

Yeah, it's a nice easy walk to just get out in nature, get some fresh air.

- [Ike] Once you get past the preserve, you'll curve around the southern end of the lake to reach the Granite Dells.

The rocks are massive.

Mounds of weather beaten rock, one on top of the other as far as the eye can see.

You'll feel like you're on a different planet.

It's spooky and spectacular all at the same time.

While riding, I've already decided to come back and hike the Peavine Trail as well.

I'm fighting the urge to get off the bike and go climb.

I want to get a closer look at all the Dell's stunning formations and the deep cuts and coves you can see right here from the Peavinel.

- What I like best about this trail is obviously being next to Watson Lake.

I mean, these boulders, the Granite Dells are so iconic to the Prescott area.

So it's really beautiful to be able to be near water in the middle of Arizona and get a little bit of that relief from the water here.

And the boulders are just so beautiful.

- [Ike] As you continue on the trail, you can see wood decking and railroad ties scattered around the trail, a testament to the Peavine's locomotive past.

- So that last stretch, it's very beautiful.

If you look to your left, you'll see Granite Mountain, Granite Creek, Granite Basin, and you'll see a nice grassfield.

- So I just finished work, and every day lately, we've been coming to the Peavine Trail just to have a nice walk.

We choose this one specifically because it's actually wide and we went walking on Monday and we saw a rattlesnake on one of the little trails off.

And that's why we're back on the Peavine 'cause we're like, okay, stay away from the snakes, and we can get out, and have a good nice walk and then see the beautiful views.

- The wildlife was here before we were, so we just have to be respectful to it.

We don't have problems with wildlife typically.

You just leave them alone and they'll leave you alone.

- [Ike] As the trail sadly comes to an end, you can either hike or bike back to the trail head, or you can continue on the Iron King trail for another four miles.

Perhaps the best thing about turning around and hiking back to the trail head?

You get to see all that amazing scenery one more time.

In Prescott, there are some fantastic landscapes to explore.

The Granite Dells just north of town are stunning to look at, hike, and climb.

And within the Dells are Watson and Willow Lake, two small manmade lakes.

And while there are trails all over the area, today we decided to take a trail that's a little more chill at Goldwater Lake Park, a few miles south of Downtown Prescott.

- Goldwater Lake is what you would expect when you come to the mountains.

It's surrounded by Ponderosa pines.

There's a hiking trail that goes all the way around it.

You can kayak, you can fish.

It's another one of those gems that we love right here in Prescott.

- [Ike] The lower Goldwater Lake Trail is a forested trail shaded by dense stands of Ponderosa pines.

The trail is clearly marked, and most of the time, side by side next to the lake.

- Oh, for me, it's just absolutely nature and trees.

What's not to love?

Like the view, the trees, the breeze, it's just nature.

- A lot of trees.

It was pretty mellow.

This trail was very even the whole way, so nothing strenuous, but bird calls and just tearing the breeze through the pines.

- [Ike] The hike treks over a landscape of small hills and ridges where valleys are green with pine trees, oak trees, and tall grasses.

You're also bound to run across some anglers on the route.

- I think it's a good lake from when I was a little kid.

I used to go to camp and we would go up there and do kayaking and it's just a fun lake to go to.

It's nice 'cause it's in the forest.

And I really like going camping or hunting out in the forest, so it's a great lake.

You get a little flow, good trout in it once they stock it, and it's just nice out.

- It's pretty close to where I live and you don't really have to go too far down to any other lake.

And it's beautiful and you can't really get this place anywhere else unless you travel farther back.

My parents got married here and it's just a place that I love.

- [Ike] It's a solid fishing spot for those in Prescott and those who also come up from the valley.

- Mainly here, rainbow trout.

They do stock it with bass and catfish.

It's good bait fishing.

It's pretty good for beginners, I would say.

Not real high rapid flow or anything.

It's just a good time.

There's places you can go around, sit down, eat, have a barbecue maybe, kayaking, canoeing, whenever you want.

It's just a nice place.

- [Ike] But even with anglers waiting for a bite, the trail is a quiet and peaceful one.

- It was so easy.

And then you're just rewarded with coming out here and seeing the water.

It just opens up all of a sudden and you get to look back and see the beautiful views that you just walked through.

- Yeah.

(bright easy-listening music) It is very peaceful and it also is just very pretty.

It really is.

Look at the view with the mountain.

I think it's a lovely hike.

- [Ike] Both lower and upper Goldwater Lake are contained by dams on Bannon Creek in the Granite Creek watershed.

One of the best things about hiking the Goldwater Lake Trail is the amount of wildlife you're going to see on the trail and in the water.

Ducks glide among the reeds and preen on logs in the middle of the lake.

White herons and eagles both thrive there.

Lower Goldwater Lake Trail is considered an easy to moderate trail, and you can bring your dog along with you when you hike it.

On a hot day when hiking trails in Phoenix just isn't appealing, you can make this trip here and hike lakeside.

(upbeat rock music) When you're in Prescott, you know you're going to hit those amazing trails outdoors.

But did you know you can also have fun indoors?

Today, we're here at Gripstone to learn how to climb.

Wish me luck.

Even before I got here, I've been thinking about this climbing challenge I've imposed on myself, but who knew climbing was going to be this hard?

Tony Yaniro knew.

- I started climbing in 1969.

And back then, climbing was mostly actually completely outdoors.

There was no such thing as an indoor climbing gym back then.

And we spent our times on the rocks learning to climb.

And I was so excited with it, I just spent every moment I could climbing in Yosemite, big walls, sport climbing, everything I can do.

That's what I did.

- [Ike] In the climbing world, Tony Yaniro is legendary and helped develop many of the techniques and methods that climbers all over the world used to this day.

- Well, climbing is one of the most complex sports you're gonna find so the list of techniques is enormous.

But basically when you climb, you want to be efficient.

Climbing is not a finger sport, it's not a pull up sport, it's not a big muscle sport, it's an efficiency sport.

And climbing is as much solving a puzzle as it is using your body.

So probably the most important thing, again, is experience.

As you gain experience, you also gain strength.

And so the best thing to do is just do lots of climbing at first and then delve into training for climbing later.

- Tony?

- Hey Ike, how's it going?

- Hey!

- Well, welcome to Gripstone Climbing.

This is an indoor climbing gym.

What you got around your waist and legs is a climbing harness.

The climbing harness is for you to tie or clip to so that if you slip, you can be caught by a safety rope.

- Ooh, okay, that's important.

- All right, very important.

You have some climbing shoes on, which are special performance shoes to give you support on climbing holds.

They're a little bit tight, but they work better that way.

And the last thing you got, see how my hands are all white?

- Yes.

- Okay, you've got a bag of gymnastic chalk right here.

- Woo!

- That keeps your hands from slipping off the holds.

Makes it more comfortable too.

- I like this, I like this.

Where are gonna get started at?

- Well, I'd like to take you right over there to the starter wall and we'll learn a little bit about climbing.

- [Ike] I'll have you lead the way.

- All righty, let's go.

This is it.

- Ooh.

- Are you ready?

- All right, let's go.

- All right, so what do we do first?

We always check your gear.

- We check the gear.

Yes, sir.

- Even though we just checked it, we're gonna check it again, make sure it's on.

- This is tight, this is tight.

Yes, sir.

- Looks good, looks good.

So I'm gonna clip you in.

- All right.

- We're gonna do our carabiner test.

We sure it's on?

- It feels good.

Yes, sir.

- Double check then.

- Double check, yup.

- Perfect.

- Okay.

- All right.

- Now, the greatest challenge is gonna be just to use the green holds.

Don't touch anything else.

And that way, you get the full flavor.

- I'm gonna do the best I can, I really am.

I'm gonna give it my best shot.

- Get to the top, get up there.

- Okay, here we go.

- Cool.

- Just use the green holds.

One, two, push.

Oh, too much arms.

One, two, push.

Where you at, green?

Ooh, tricky.

Okay, okay.

Wait a minute.

Where you at, where you at?

Okay.

I'm gonna grab you.

One, two, push.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Little green, I see you.

Okay.

One, two, push.

- Nice, good job.

- There we go, get my grip.

Use the green.

No cheating.

- [Instructor] You're going good.

Looking good.

Nice and smooth.

- Get the grips.

Push.

One, two.

Yeah!

- You're almost there!

Go for it!

Woo!

- So close!

I went for it.

- You went for it!

- Okay.

I'll be right there with you, Tony.

Give me a second.

Woo.

Okay.

- Just breathe.

Tony.

- Nice job.

- Everything hurts.

My forearms, everything.

Can you give me an assessment of what I just did?

Any way I can get better?

- Oh yeah, absolutely.

First of all, practice makes perfect, but as you practice, you will learn how to use your legs more and save that energy in your hands.

As you saw, you only have so much time to be hanging on the wall and so much energy in your hands.

So you gotta use your legs as much as possible.

And so you'll practice shifting your weight, keeping the weight on your feet.

And you noticed when you did that several times, your feet actually came off the holds.

That means you were pulling up with your arms and wasting energy.

That's part of the perfection you'll get with practice.

- I feel it.

If you do more of this, does it make your forearms stronger?

- Oh, it sure does.

You get really strong hands, and arms, and your whole upper body.

In fact, climbing is a full body sport.

- Well, I'm having such a great time.

I wanna do this more, but I do have a question.

If you do this, this indoor rock climbing, can you go directly to outdoor rock climbing?

- Well, indoor climbing is a great place to start, but you definitely do not want to try and go outside without professional guidance.

Outside has so many more variables and many dangers that you may not learn indoors without an experienced guide.

So definitely go to your gym, ask them if they've got some certified guides to take you out for your first few times, and then you can find out how much you love it.

- So you would say this is at least a good first step.

- It's a perfect first step.

- Tony, you are the man.

Thank you, thank you.

One of Prescott's true treasures has to be the Granite Dells.

Just four miles north of Downtown Prescott, the Granite Dells are an amazing collection of granite boulder formations near Willow and Watson Lakes.

Exposed the Dells is a coarse grain granite that has been theoretically dated at 1.4 billion years old.

These smooth rounded rocks reflect on Watson Lake.

It's a reservoir formed in the early 1900s when the Chino Valley Irrigation District built a dam on Granite Creek.

The city of Prescott bought the reservoir and surrounding land in 1997 to preserve it as recreational land.

- Hikers can enjoy the miles and miles of trails in and around the Dells.

- Well, I think a hiking experience, is like I said, is varied here.

It's a great place to bring kids 'cause they like scrambling on these rocks and the rocks are very grippy.

So you can have that family experience.

- [Ike] Chris Hosking is the city of Prescott's trail specialist.

He's been able to develop and build trails here in the Dells as well as all over Prescott for nearly two decades.

His work and those of his volunteers have impacted thousands of hikers from Arizona, the US, and the world.

- Well, Prescott has a great variety of trails and a great variety of landscape.

So with our partners, with Prescott National Forest, we have a lot of pine trees on the south, on the west end of town, and alpine lakes, great views.

And then you come down into to the city and then you've got the Dells that we've got here.

We've got trails in the grasslands, in the Chaparral.

So we have a huge variety of terrain, soil types, and views.

And the cool thing about being in Prescott, particularly the Dells, is you can be in a canyon out here.

You're in the middle of the city, but you don't feel like you're in the middle of the city.

You're totally isolated.

It's very quiet and you can get into the Dells within 15 minutes of anywhere in Prescott.

And you can just have a very, you know, much like a wilderness experience right in the middle of town.

- [Narrator] Trail Mix'd is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

- [Narrator] Additional support provided by.

- [Narrator] SRP is staying ahead of the valley's growing energy needs.

We're investing in one of the country's largest solar battery storage projects to deliver power that's as reliable as it is sustainable.

- [Narrator] Albertsons Safeway pharmacies and Valley Nonprofit Mission of Mercy are proud to support cancer awareness.

They encourage you to talk to your doctor, get recommended screenings, and don't forget your flu vaccine.

More information at Albertsons or Safeway.com.

- [Narrator] Whitfill Nursery proud to support 8 Arizona PBS, a valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona-grown trees, citrus, and palms.

Complete custom design and installation.

And Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

WhitfillNursery.com.

- [Narrator] And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.