The Bright and Beautiful Lakes of Arizona

The Big, Bright, Beautiful Lakes of Arizona

"Now, let me tell you about Arizona's lakes!" "Arizona? Lakes? Those strike me as being mutually exclusive terms." She is a newcomer from Connecticut. She considers herself cosmopolitan, but she is patently provincial. Fortunately, it is her only fault. All her early years she spent in New England and anotherdecade, more specifically, in Boston. She does not believe anything exists west of Dedham, Massachusetts. "Arizona couldn't possibly have what properly could be called lakes," she insists, contorting her pretty face into a pruney frown. "I know all about lakes. My secret recitation, my mantra, has to do text continued on page 31

(Left and below) Apache Lake offers uncrowded fishing holes and long runs for skiers.

(Bottom) Saguaro Lake, just northeast of Phoenix, is usually jammed with holiday crowds from the city. It is carefully watched by Tonto National Forest rangers.

(Following panel, pages 22-23) Morning mist shrouds the vertical beauty of the desert mountains embracing Saguaro Lake. Steve Bruno

(Preceding panel, pages 24-25) Canyon Lake is a rare jewel set between the rugged heights of the Superstition and Mazatzal mountains. Diane Dietrich-Leis (Clockwise from below) Spring comes to Saguaro Lake... Lake Mead on the Colorado, near Pierce Ferry... Cactus sentinels line the shore of Apache Lake... Hedgehog cactus in spring bloom. (Following panel, pages 28-29) Havasu National Wildlife Refuge on the Colorado River in western Arizona. Kaz Hagiwara

Text continued from page 18 with a special place on the water. As a girl some of my loveliest experiences were on real lakes: Pocotopaug and Moosalamoo and Winnepesaukee!"

I have learned to be patient with her.

"Madam, have you ever heard of lakes named Kinnickinick, Saguaro, and Moovalya? They are all lakes in Arizona."

"What funny names for lakes," says she. "Unlike real lakes, they must be sort of ugly and itty-bitty!"

"Well, it is true that Kinnickinick is not large, but in its setting at 7500 feet above sea level, in a meadow among conifers, ferns, and aspens, it breaks your heart. The name comes from an old Indian word for the bearberry bush. Isn't that romantic?

"And size! Don't you know that Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, is the world's largest person-made reservoir, capable of storing 1,234,815,264,000 very large pails of water. That makes a lake 110-miles long, about one-fifth the total area of Rhode Island!"

She affects an exaggerated pout. "Oh, you're just trying to impress me with statistics. The West is so...raw, and new, and devoid of historical tradition!"

"Like Plymouth Rock," I tease.

"I can show you the ding on Plymouth Rock made by the keel of the Mayflower!"

"Hah!" say I. "I can show you the path of a European explorer who came through Arizona and went all the way to Kansas 80 years before Plymouth Rock. He passed villages continuously occupied for the last 2000 years."

"Okay, smarty. More about lakes!"

"You have to understand that originally this was arid country, and although dams and reservoirs cause undesirable impacts upon the environment, these artificial lakes also provide enormous benefits to nature. The surface and shores of Lake Mead are used by 250 species of birds and 60 species of mammals, not counting homo sapiens.

"One of Arizona's newest lakes is Alamo, which varies between 500 and 7500 acres. It's on a perennial stream, the Bill Williams River, and in times of drouth, Alamo will be a godsend for wildlife. Not to mention its role as a recreational pond for people!"

"What do people do with these lakes?"

"Egad, if it floats, Arizonans do it. The population is several years younger than the national average, and it seems that on warm weekends, Arizona boaters run their boats up and down the highways. But they eventually find water, and....“....Some of 'em install engines in their boats big enough to power Sherman tanks. No exaggera-

exaggeration. Over on Lake Havasu on the Colorado River there are supercharged speedsters capable of developing 900 horsepower.

".... At the other end of the spectrum are a breed of boat people roughly equivalent to stump sitters on land. All they want is a little 14-foot aluminum rowboat or at most a five-horsepower outboard. They'll putt-putt out onto Canyon Lake and drift around in a quiet cove and drink a beer and doze.

"... Maybe it's not Rhode Island Sound, but Lake Pleasant, northwest of Phoenix, nearly always offers a strong, clean breeze for desert sailors. Canyon wrens instead of gulls. Cacti instead of lighthouses. Burros instead of harbor seals. But it's honest sailing and challenging enough."

"... Boating enthusiasts who go to Roosevelt Lake get a bonus along the way-The Apache Trail, Arizona's all-time-favorite touring loop. Nearly all the 80 miles traverse splendrous mountains covered with native plants capable of sensational blossoming in several seasons of the year. Campgrounds are all along the Salt River and its lakes."

"... Then there are the houseboaters. It's almost a cult. They own their own and moor them at the big marinas on Powell or Mead or Havasu, or they rent them from commercial operators at Katherine Landing or Wahweap Basin. They will load enough groceries and gear and gurgle on a houseboat to supply the Rapid Deployment Force and steam away to search for a secluded sandy beach for a secluded week of sunning, swimming, and fishing. Some of them even tow a little runabout for exploring and water-skiing."

... Don't ask me much about water-skiing. Not my game. But thanks to its big, long lakes like Havasu and Mohave, Mead and Powell, the state attracts the best in the world, from New Zealand, from South Africa, from the Caribbean. Arizona lakes are ideal for those 50-mile marathons in which skiers average 50 miles per hour and more. On a choppy lake, stamina is everything.

"... Then there's that rugged band of endurance boaters. Early in March, they congregate at the Bluewater Marine Park at Parker. Thousands of spectators jam the Colorado's banks in both Arizona and California to watch high-speed boats circle a narrow 13-mile course over a seven-hour period."

In the ultimate test of driver and machinery few boats finish.

Then, finally, if you must know my own preference-it is to own no boat at all. By now, I've owned them all. Everything from a rubber raft to a 30-foot Santana. Today, so well developed is Arizona's water wonderland, I let other people own boats, and I beg, borrow, or lease them. One day I can scull a skiff across Big Lake high up in the White Mountains. The next day, I can take a 100-mile cruise on one of the small ships deployed on Powell. On yet another day, I can rent a runabout, put a down payment on a houseboat, or play with a pram out of Temple Bar.

It's been a long speech, and my companion has displayed uncharacteristic patience.

"All right. You've convinced me that the lakes are here, and everybody seems to enjoy them. But I keep thinking of my girlhood in New England amid all that beauty"

"Ah, my lovely newcomer to Arizona, you have not known beauty until you have been caught on Lake Powell in a cloudburst, and a hundred waterfalls spring from vertical sandstone walls to splash into the lake 300 feet below. You have not known beauty until you have witnessed a triple rainbow shimmering in the mists of Hoover's power plant. You have not known beauty until a flock of Canada geese land around your canoe on Roosevelt Lake. You have not known beauty until you have climbed to the caves above Apache Lake, to look down upon the French curves scribed by a ski boat and skier on an otherwise mirror-smooth pool. You have not known beauty until you have lain back on the roof of a houseboat on Mohave and tried to count that great jewelry box of stars and planets resplendent in their natural colors. You were aware, were you not, that stars and planets vary in color?"

"Well, I guess... I guess...I knew they twinkled, and Mars was sort of reddish."

"And here, you will learn that some stars are topaz, some aquamarine, some amethyst. I also promise falling stars, and a steady stream of speeding satellites. They are especially bright above our Arizona lakes!"

She bites her lip, and says, "I think I'll move my mantra!"