MtnHermit wrote:I've been scanning my topo maps looking for a AZ wilderness lake and haven't found a single one. Must be related to glaciers or the lack thereof. In CO almost every wilderness has dozens if not hundreds of lakes.
If you know of a AZ wilderness lake, please help a frozen Coloradoan.
Thanks
There are virtually no true lakes in Arizona. Any body of water found in the state is likely formed by a dam.
The only true "lakes" I know of off-hand are Mormon Lake, about 30 miles southeast of Flagstaff, and nearby Stoneman Lake. Both are on the San Francisco Volcanic Field and looking at Stoneman especially, seem to be natural craters probably formed when ground fell into a subterranean void. Mormon is more of a big flat mud patch than a watery lake. Jacob Lake on the Grand Canyon North Rim (Kaibab Plateau) is just a small watery sump about 50 feet across.
Arizona has relatively few playas as compared to California, Nevada and New Mexico. There's one in Cochise County (Willcox Playa) and another north of Kingman (Red Lake Playa I think). If the climate was wetter, these would be lakes. Otherwise, virtually the whole state is a system of mountains and valleys, with all watersheds letting out toward the Colorado River, and no basins that would be water-filled if we had a wetter climate.