Lyman Lake, Arizona

Wow, what a contrast. We had a low of 44 last night. I don't think it's been that cold since we left Oregon. It warmed up nicely today though, and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and the hiking. This is a really nice park, with a range of options from full hook-ups to cabins and yurts, along with basic no frills sites. There's fishing and boating, and plenty of trails to hike. Lyman Lake State Park is located in northeastern Arizona along the Little Colorado River in Apache County between St. Johns and Springerville just off of US 191.
The River was first dammed in 1915, dedicated as a park in 1961. We can't find evidence of who did all the stone work, but the trails are beautifully built, with nice stone steps leading the hiker right to the best spots for photos and observation of the lake. This lake is supposedly the smoothest water in the state for water skiing, but those afternoon zephyrs are something else. As evidence, all the trash can lids are weighted so they don't blow away..... and they way about 20 pounds each!

THE PETROGLYPHS
The Peninsula Petroglyph trail winds around a sandstone and limestone cliff. The trail also offered some fantastic views of the lake.
The petroglyphs are all incised or pecked into the sandstone, we didn't find any in the limestone. Unfortunately, many of the glyphs were carved on horizontal surfaces, which rain water collects in, speeding the erosion. Many are so eroded it is difficult to see the original design.
There is a 30 page booklet with much more extensive information about the petroglyphs, as well as the ruins. It also contains a map of the "floor plan" of the ruins.

THE RUINS

The Lyman Lake State Park area appears to have been continuously occupied by the Anasazi sometime after 6000 BC. The ruins open to visitors are "Rattlesnake Point Pueblo" which was a medium-sized village that was home to about 15 families between AD 1325 and 1390. It was one story tall and had between 80 and 90 rooms. This site has been excavated and researched, and then most of the rooms backfilled to protect them. They use "non-native" materials so it's easily distinguished if they want to uncover the site again. This was done at another site in nearby Springerville. It doesn't leave much for the visitor to see, but it does keep the site safe. After all the vandalism that has happened at other archeological sites I can't blame them for using this technique.

Click on the album photo to go to the slide show: