Deep Lake
DEEP LAKE The woodsy approach to Deep Lake Located roughly 20 miles southeast of Flagstaff, the windy plains of Anderson Mesa are home to a cluster of Arizona’s rare natural lakes. Conspicuous among the bodies of water that are collectively known as the plateau lakes are Ashurst, Kinnikinick and the massive, yet sometimes dry Mormon Lake—the state’s largest organic puddle. Along with nearby Upper and Lower Lake Mary, these high-county lakes are popular with anglers, boaters, campers and hikers trekking the adjacent Arizona Trail Passage 30. A residual puddle in Als Lake attracts wildlife Besides the obvious behemoths, dozens of smaller much less crowded lakes are scattered across the dynamic landform in Coconino National Forest. Storm clouds build above Anderson Mesa These secluded natural basins formed between 1 and 5 million years ago when subterranean hollows caved in to form surface depressions that fill with snowmelt water during high-precipitation years. Turkey vultures and raven...