Northern Arizona is WILD.
Like, one summer, you’re driving three hours north in order to paddle board somewhere new to you.
And the next summer… you’re driving 30 minutes south in order to paddle board somewhere new. To EVERYONE.
Because a new lake just, like… appeared?!
OK, so Lower Lake Mary didn’t just… APPEAR appear. It’s a reservoir, and it’s been there for a while. It’s just been empty due to some pretty severe drought conditions.
But, thanks to some seriously heavy and record-breaking snowfall over the course of this past winter, not only did Upper Lake Mary fill up… but Lower Lake Mary filled up as well.
(Here are some photos I took for work back in late March, for reference. You can see the dam between Upper Lake Mary and Lower Lake Mary spilling over.)
AND. Not only did Lower Lake Mary fill up… it actually filled up to the point where it breeched a levee on its west side.
And, no. The Coconino National Forest has no plans to repair the broken levee, forest spokesperson Randi Shaffer said. (See what I did there?)
I spent several hours of a recent weekend working overtime due to the levee issue, so the second I had a chance, I did the most logical thing I could think of.
I went out to inspect the broken levee for myself. On my paddle board, of course.
A few of my friends and I planned a sunrise paddle board trip out to Lake Mary yesterday for the first mid-70s day of the season. It was definitely a fluke because the forecast is back down to the 60s for the foreseeable future, but it was nice to have one beautiful sunny day previewing the summer that awaits!
I grabbed my inflatable SUP, packed my dry bag with snacks and headed down to Lake Mary.
We parked along a dirt pull-off adjacent to Lake Mary Road, inflated our boards and hiked down to the water.
We launched from the east side of the lake and then paddled west, clear across to the levee.
Once we got past the levee, we were paddling over roads, under power lines and through pine trees.
Such a weird experience!
You can really see how far the water spilled out past the broken levee (and how high the water level is compared to the power lines we scooted right under) in this video my friend Jim took:
Crazy, right?!
Mormon Lake is pretty full as well, so hopefully I’ll be able to paddle around there as well if it isn’t too marshy.
(Another work photo for reference.)
Happy paddling!
This post was originally published May 18, 2023. Its timestamp has been updated.
