Your Next New Adventure Awaits

FEATURE Your Next New Adventure Awaits

We’ve gone into detail in these pages about many of the most popular and healthy outdoor adventures Greater Prescott offers — hiking, cycling, mountain biking, kayaking, camping, to name a few. But there’s a lot more you can do around here; some add a twist to the activities you’ve already tried, while others are in leagues of their own!

TRAIL RUNNING This is a great way to build your strength and endurance while chasing your personal best through our forests and mountains. Softer dirt and gravel surfaces are easier on joints, and while uneven terrain slows you down, it provides valuable interval-like training.

GEOCACHING This one is a true adventure in which you use GPS coordinates to find trinkets in cleverly hidden containers, many locked by a puzzle that must be solved first. The Prescott area alone has thousands of caches, many requiring some significant hiking to get to.

BIRDING This lower-tech treasure hunt takes walkers and hikers all over creation hoping to spot or photograph rare, migratory, native and other avian species. Greater Prescott’s location and climate attracts a lot of birds, as well as people. Watson and Willow lakes are deemed an “important bird area” by Audubon, and bald eagles headline the diversity at Lynx, Goldwater and other forest lakes. .

FORAGING This is another outdoor quest, this time the search for edible foods in the wild. Take a guidebook with you to determine which vegetation is healthful versus toxic and know any applicable regulations before heading out. For example, the U.S. Forest Service requires a permit for collection of plants or plant material for as little as $20. Once you have an idea what you’re doing, you can find a considerable culinary selection, starting with prickly pear fruit.

FISHING You can make this activity as adventurous or relaxing as you want it to be. Fain Lake in Prescott Valley along with Watson and Willow lakes in Prescott; and Goldwater, Lynx, Granite Basin and Mingus lakes in Prescott all are periodically stocked by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. For details visit www.azgfd.com/ fishing/locations/prescott

IT’S TIME TO Summer Person BECOME A

by Cathy Clements, Nutritionist & Life Coach, NASM CNC, CPT, FNS, WFS

This is the perfect weather to get outside! It is said that people are specific seasons — I agree with that and feel I am a summer person!

I love the warm weather and being outside when it is sunny. It doesn’t matter to me if it is early morning, mid-day or late afternoon. I was raised mostly in the Valley and lifeguarded through college. I love the outdoors.

Our area is perfect for all kinds of activities, and since the heat of the summer hasn’t set in, it is the perfect time to be outside. No matter how conditioned you are, there is definitely something for you.

If you rise early, hiking trails around Commerce Street are great; not too long or difficult. In that same area, I see early pickleball players in the park! These activities can be done anytime but definitely early before the day becomes warm.

If these don’t fit the activities you enjoy doing, what can you do?

Just get out and walk through your neighborhood or drive into town and walk around the Courthouse, or drive to the mall and walk around the outside or the inside if it is too warm. Pools are starting to reopen, too. So get in a pool and walk or swim laps or take a water aerobics class.

If you decide to go downtown you can make a day of it by shopping. Then, pick up a to-go meal and have a picnic on the Courthouse grounds.

Although I only mentioned the trails closer into town, there are about 60 miles of trails around Prescott; easy to advanced. Find a friend of equal fitness and go for a hike on one of those trails. If you enjoy other activities like running or cycling, do that!

This is the perfect time of year to re-invigorate your fitness. Start where you are and work toward where you want to be.

FEATURE Grand Canyon HIKING IN THE A short 2-hour drive from Prescott takes you to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon.

by Molly Auman, Committee Member, The Launch Pad Teen Center of Prescott

Hiking in the Grand Canyon is majestic, but can be daunting.

You should be prepared for the rugged terrain and intense weather. It can be 20 degrees on the rim and over 100 at the base of the canyon near Phantom Ranch.

Starting at Bright Angel

Trail Head, you can hike down to the 1.5-mile house, the 3-mile house, Indian

Garden (approximately 5 miles from the rim) or to

Plateau Point (6 miles from the south rim). Plateau Point overlooks the Colorado

River and is a beautiful place to enjoy lunch while taking in the scenery.

Always make sure you have enough food and water. There is water along the trails, but it is oftentimes turned off for maintenance, a broken pipeline or seasonally.

The best way to check for hiking conditions and water availability is visiting www.nps.gov/grca. Proper hiking shoes and trekking poles also are a great idea as the trails are rugged and the grades are steep.

The Launch Pad Teen Center of Prescott plans the annual Rim to Rim Trek for Teens the first weekend of October. For this endeavor an abundance of training is encouraged, and it is always a good idea to spend a little bit of time in the Grand Canyon prior to this event to get your “feet wet.”

For more information on this event, visit www. thelaunchpadteencenter. org needed, and check in on family, friends and neighbors.

The global pandemic forced us to cope with situations we never imagined, and many of us struggled with our mental health. Throughout, people who had never experienced mental health challenges found themselves struggling for the first time.

Remember, working on your mental health and finding tools to help takes time. By focusing on small changes, you can move through the stressors of the past year and develop longterm strategies to support yourself on an ongoing basis.

Consider taking a mental health screening. There are several online resources including one with West Yavapai Guidance Clinic, a local behavioral health provider.