Oh, and How Prescott Provides

Barefooted political science bicyclists, fiddle playin’ rock climbers, ecoconscious punk farmers. No matter the different kinds of people you find at Prescott College, one thing connects them all: Prescott students love to be outside.

Oh, and how Prescott provides. Surrounded by National Forest with spectacular hikes, climbing, and views, Prescott is an outdoorsy student’s paradise. It’s a common thing to hike up round Thumb Butte, a beautiful towering rock monument that pinnacles over the town. Or hike through the Granite Dells, which are giant orange rock sculptures that meander around a lovely creek. Close by you find the Verde River, which literally looks green and echoes something out of an amazonian dream, winding round through many canyons and creating natural hot springs. Go south and you find fields of saguaro cacti, stretching into the Superstition Mountains which are wild and warm. Go north and you find the Red Rocks of Sedona, the green of the trees and the red of the rocks creating a spiraling breathtaking effect around the city that draws people from all over the country to experience its beauty. And if anything, Sedona is the red cherry on top of the gigantic incredible banana split of the Grand Canyon, which lies just a little farther north. Words can’t express the awe one experiences when looking down into the canyon, so I won’t try. The fact is, Arizona is epically lovely, and the places just described are only the tip of the iceberg. There is a reason why they say that the four corners region of the Southwest is magical, and that magic lies in the beauty of the nature that has remained in many places largely untouched by human development.

So students at Prescott College really know how to enjoy the natural wonders that abound in this region. Lots of places for a good bike ride, with lots of people to ride around with. Really cool bouldering and climbing spots. Oh, and the farm life. If you want to be outside and active in growing your own food and food for the community, why not join up with Karma Farms, one of the local community garden co-ops? Or the Splash community garden? There are so many people growing their own food round Prescott that there is more than ample opportunity to do the same for yourself. So whether it is beatin’ the path through the woods or getting dirty growing something yummy, you can bet you’ll find Prescott College students out in the sunshine.

Thumb Butte

~Brittany L. Davis, 10/17/2011