You Don't Want to Miss This Outdoorsy Western Town
We stumbled upon Prescott, Arizona and fell in love with its bike trails, western charm, and varied landscape: from rocky desert to ponderosa forest.
March 31st, 2025
We stumbled upon Prescott, Arizona and fell in love with its bike trails, western charm, and varied landscape: from rocky desert to ponderosa forest.
March 31st, 2025
Of all the beautiful places we have had the opportunity to live in the last year, Prescott, AZ stands out as the one that surprises us the most. Many of the places we have visited are well-known as destinations: the Oregon Coast, Sedona, San Diego, Santa Cruz. Prescott is a town you rarely hear about but you absolutely should. Prescott, AZ is one of the coolest, outdoorsy towns we have ever been to. If you love deserts, forests, hiking, biking and old west charm, Prescott should be at the top of your bucket list.
We camped at Point of Rocks Campground and absolutely loved it. The campground is situated right among the granite rocks of the Granite Dells, has a trail leading to Watson Lake and connecting to the Peavine Trail, and is conveniently located 10 minutes from historic downtown Prescott and conveniences like Costco and Trader Joe's.
Prescott is a family-friendly mountain biking destination! While Sedona trails tend to be quite challenging and technical, Prescott mountain biking trails offer more family-friendly options.
Bean Peaks Gravity Flow Trails is a series of smooth, looping trails of various challenge levels that all connect together, making it the perfect place for the whole family. This is a fantastic place to practice jumps, turns and downhill biking.
The Peavine Trail along Lake Watson is a flat, easy trail great for both biking and on foot and is stroller friendly as well. We rode from Point of Rocks campground and connected to the Peavine Trail at Watson Lake. The section of the trail through the Granite Dells is stunningly beautiful and is a great place for bird watching. We spotted great blue herons and bald eagles on our ride.
There are also several more challenging mountain bike trails that branch off of the Peavine Trail through the Dells if your family is up for a bigger adventure.
The Pioneer Park mountain bike trail system is one of the most family-friendly trail systems we have ridden so far in our travels down the west coast and into Arizona. These trails are smooth and beginner-intermediate mountain biker friendly and connect in a series of loops so you can ride as long or short as you wish.
One of the most unique and fun things about Prescott is the incredible rock formations surrounding Willow Lake and Watson Lake. Since our campground was located literally IN the rocks, we climbed and hiked around the rocks every day of our stay. The granite is grippy and easy to climb which made it especially fun for our kids to explore.
The Highlands Center is nestled among the ponderosa pines near Lynx Lake. The center has trails through the forest, a beautiful garden and the most amazing nature play area we have ever visited. The forest play area has a giant rope spider web, rocks for climbing, sticks for fort building, and an extensive loose parts play area full of shells, bones, tree cookies, pine cones and more to inspire creative play.
Historic Downtown Prescott is well worth a visit. It is full of bike shops, boutiques and western themed souvenir shops among breweries, coffee shops and restaurants with fantastic happy hour options.
The County Seat is located upstairs above the Spice Traveler store. With a view of the square at the heart of downtown Prescott and a variety of delicious and unique happy hour bites, The County Seat was one of the best restaurant experiences we have had during our first year on the road.
Colt Grill also had a great happy hour menu and outdoor patio seating! It was the perfect place to dine on nachos and fries after a morning of mountain biking.
We have visited many farmers markets down the west coast and into Arizona this year and the Prescott Farmers Market was one of our favorites. The market runs year round on Saturdays and even in February the market had plentiful produce along with delicious baked goods, jewelry, skincare and holistic health products and more.