Today, we visited the Flume Trail and Watson Lake Loop, said to be an easy to moderate 1.6 mile lollipop trail. We parked in the small lot off Granite Dells Road and State Highway 89, north of the entrance to Watson Lake Park, at 34.6026, -112.4210.
The trailhead:
Start of Flume Trail
In the early 1900s, John Bianconi, a Swiss immigrant, bought an established orchard that suffered from insufficient irrigation. He combined a wooden flume with ditch irrigation, and expanded his landholdings to a 200-acre ranch, with 40 acres devoted to an orchard of 3,000-4,000 trees. Bianconi won awards for his peaches.
Flume Trail
The “stick” portion of the lollipop trail quickly reaches boulders and rock walls that are very beautiful. Here Shaina and Batya make their way through a narrow part.
Shaina and Batya squeeze through the Flume Trail
A panorama view from the trail:
Panorama view from the Flume Trail
Rocks on the Flue Trail:
Flume Trail
Rocks on the Flume Trail:
Flume Trail
Shaina poses on top of a small boulder:
Shaina standing on a boulder
More rocks on the Flume Trail:
Flume Trail
As one leaves the “stick” part of the lollipop trail and reaches the loop part, signs ask hikers to keep their voices low, as there are private properties nearby. Other signs warn hikers to stay on the trail to avoid trespassing. Of course, Shaina is good at keeping her voice down.
Warning sign on Flume Trail
Prickly pear cactus:
Prickly pear cactus
360-degree Panorama:
360-degree panorama
More scenery:
Flume Trail
More rocks on the Flume Trail:
Flume Trail
We may have missed a short part of the trail that led to Watson Lake.
Batya and Shaina hike the Flume Trail
Dandelions:
Dandelions
Shaina couldn’t resist blowing the dandelions. On June 2, while running at a Phoenix amusement park, Uptown Jungle, Shaina had smashed her forehead against another girl. Shaina developed a huge purple bump on her forehead and black eyes. 17 days later, her forehead was much better, but she still had a trace of black eyes:
Shaina blowing dandelions
Heading back toward the trailhead:
Batya and Shaina returning on the Flume Trail
After the previous day’s hike, when Shaina wasn’t up to it, I was pleased that we were able to all hike together and complete this short hike.