Canyon Lake — the sapphire reservoir the Apache Trail suddenly meets deep in the desert mountains, held back by the 1925 Mormon Flat Dam, one of the chain of dams the Salt River wears.
And here's the surprise this desert drive is famous for — water. Deep blue water, right in the middle of all this dry rock and cactus: this is Canyon Lake, and the sight of it hits you all the sudden, sapphire against the red-brown cliffs. The road runs right along it and even crosses it, and there are pullouts and a marina and picnic spots if you want to stop and take it in. On a warm afternoon it's full of boats, kayaks, and folks fishing off the rocks.
Now, this lake is not natural — it's a reservoir, held back by the Mormon Flat Dam, built back in 1925, tucked into the canyon just downstream. And it's one link in a remarkable chain. The Salt River, which carved all these canyons, has been dammed in four places up in these mountains, creating a staircase of desert lakes — Roosevelt, Apache, Canyon here, and Saguaro — that between them tamed a wild, flood-prone river and turned it into the water and power that let the city of Phoenix grow up out of the desert. Every one of those dams, and this beautiful lake, is the whole reason the road you're driving on was ever built in the first place — and Boone will tell you that story further up. For now, enjoy the water; it's a rare and lovely thing to find up a desert mountain. Roll on toward Tortilla Flat.
Photo: dconvertini · CC BY-SA 2.0
