About six miles southeast of Williams is Dogtown Lake. The lake is a recreational area and campground where people can fish, camp, picnic, hike, and just enjoy the outdoors. The name “Dogtown” comes from the large prairie dog towns that once ran through the open areas near the lake. We drove out here after breakfast to take the hiking trail around the lake.

To get to the lake from Williams, we turned onto 4th Street and headed south where it becomes Perkinsville Road. From the center of town it’s just under a 10 minute drive to the dirt road turn off for the lake. It’s a 3.7 mile drive that takes about 15 minutes on the dirt road to get to the lake. The road is a bit bumpy, but it can still be easily traversable with any vehicle. While driving down this road, we saw many RVs and camp sites set up just off the road, and closer to the lake itself are other campgrounds.

The lake is surrounded by pine tree forest, and a hiking trail travels around the circumference of the lake. This is the path we took! The path follows the shore of the lake and is quite easy to walk. We enjoyed the fragrant scent of the pine trees as we walked. Although the lake is lined with trees, a majority of the path is in the open so we’re glad we brought sunscreen to help with the hot summer sun.

The path was slightly rocky in some areas, and when it went around the thin arm at the southwest corner of the lake, it was a little difficult to figure out where to go. However, we found the path and even had to make our way through a gate in a fence designed to keep wandering cattle from entering the lake area. After looping around the corner and going through another gate we were back along the trail. It took us about 45 minutes to make our way around the lake at an easy pace while taking pictures along the way.

The lake does not allow swimming, but fishing and boating are allowed and were well-taken advantage of by many other visitors on the morning we were there.

In the distance to the west is Bill Williams mountain. Both the town of Williams and the mountain are named after a mountain man and guide of the same name from the early 19th century.

At night, this area has very little light pollution, so we returned for some star photography! This was the clearest night we had in Williams, but there were some sporadic clouds still. Fortunately, Taylor still managed to get some good shots.

Dogtown Lake is a really nice recreation area, great for camping, fishing, boating, or just hiking! Next time we visit we’ll have to plan to stay a little longer.

Google Maps Link: Dogtown Lake