This Year, Dry Or Wet?

by Nick Coons
Feb 11, 2003

I remember the first time I went to Roosevelt Lake

Roosevelt Lake	(ROS-e'-ve'lt lak)
Roosevelt Lake spans 17,000 surface acres, with 89 miles of shoreline; this is the biggest lake in Central Arizona.

. It was a three-day camping trip with my dad when I was about eight years old. A friend of his, along with his son, accompanied us. I ran around trying to catch tadpoles as fishing bait, and I remember seeing a small frog, about two inches long, for the first time.

The next time I went to Roosevelt Lake

Roosevelt Lake	(ROS-e'-ve'lt lak)
Roosevelt Lake spans 17,000 surface acres, with 89 miles of shoreline; this is the biggest lake in Central Arizona.

was about six years ago. It wasn't planned. Of friend of mine and I decided one night to jump in the car and start driving. Around 3:00am we starting driving by the lake. There was the calming reflection of the moon, and no other sounds at all that I could hear my friend breathing from 20 feet away.

The last time I was there was about two months ago. I had heard the reports that the drought over the past few years has caused Roosevelt Lake's water level to decrease significantly, of how the lake is currently only 13% of capacity, and will probably be completely dry by fall of this year. But it was a bit different to see it in person; people parking their RVs and camping in places that used to be 50 feet underwater. It's depressing.

Another problem with the lake drying up is that now ancient Indian heritage that had been underwater for the past 100 years is now being exposed, and stolen. It may not seem like a big deal to take something that you see at the bottom of the dry lake, but how would you feel if someone went to your ancestor's graves, took "artifacts", and displayed them as mantel pieces?

The average precipitation so far this year has been lower than the normal, but better than this year. I sure hope it picks up.