Watson Lake and Granite Dells, AZ

A couple of weeks ago I visited Prescott Arizona to help my younger brother recover from a knee operation. It was not serious, but it did lay him up for several days. While in Prescott, I had a chance to visit a place in Arizona I had always wanted to visit, Watson Lake and the Granite Dells. In Arizona Highway and in other places, I had often seen images of the area with is stark rock formations and its small lake reservoir. Being approximately 13 miles away, it was easy for me to slip away the first thing in the morning for couple of hours and later in the week for an evening visit.

Arizona, and the other states in the Southwest, have such unique geographical features. The Granite Dells consists of exposed bedrock and represent large boulders that have eroded into an unusual lumpy, rippled appearance. "The precambrian[4] Dells' granite has been dated at 1.4 billion years old. Its pluton was intruded at a depth of around one or two miles (1.6 to 3.2 km). These cover rocks have since been eroded away. Weathering along joints produced the rounded boulders and other unusual rock formations that characterize the Granite Dells. This process is called spheroidal weathering, and is common in granitic terrains.

"I do want to comment on how surprisingly cold it was on a couple of these mornings. I was reasonably prepared for the cold, but boy was it penetrating.