Saguaro Lake Tour on the Desert Belle
This winter we didn't put our sailboat (Albion) in the water in Mexico. We decided to work in the Phoenix, Arizona area as a tour boat captain, and ticket taker, to get the days needed to renew my captains license. The owners of the Desert Belle Paddleboat asked us to work for them and we accepted. The duration of this position was from October 1, 2006 through May 5th, 2007.
This is a representation of the 90 minute tour on Saguaro Lake, Arizona, aboard the Desert Belle
Paddleboat (http://www.desertbelle.com/). Most of these pictures were taken by me (Captain Brent O. Forsberg) and the narration below is basically that given during the cruise about the features on the lake and presented here with photos.TONTO NATIONAL FOREST;
When you came up to Saguaro Lake today, you entered the Tonto National Forest, about 3 million acres in size, and for perspective, that’s 2 1/2 times the size of the Grand Canyon. The forest has a wide variety of habitat from middle desert to high alpine mountains. And Saguaro Lake also has a wide variety of habitat including the canyon, marshes, and the Sonoran Desert habitat.The Salt River, that you are on, has four lakes on it. They can be remembered by the acronym SCAR for Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, and Roosevelt Lakes. The dam for Roosevelt Lake was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1911, predating Arizona’s statehood by almost a year.These lakes were created between 1907 and 1930 by the Bureau of Reclamation and a coalition of farmers called the Salt River Project, now a local utility. They were created for the purpose of flood control and agricultural water storage.STEWARD MOUNTAIN DAM:
Saguaro Lake was the last lake of the chain to be formed in 1930 with the completion of the Stewart Mountain Dam, the concrete structure you see ahead of us and slightly to your right (starboard). The dam is 1260’ long, 207’ high, the current water depth at the dam is about 95’, and there is a small 13,000 kw water turbine in the dam for power generation. Saguaro Lake is 10 miles long, has 22.5 miles of shoreline and has a surface area of about 1200 acres. The maximum depth is 120’ deep, and you are at an elevation of 1526’. The Salt River , as well as over 90% of the land in Arizona, slopes in a SW direction towards Yuma and drains into the Colorado River
FOUR PEAKS:
The first feature I want to call to your attention is the mountain range off to your left (port) that you see in the distance. This is the Mazatzal Mountain range and the four major peaks you see are called the “Four Peaks” and includes a 60,000 acre wilderness area, also called the “Four Peaks” Wilderness Area.Those peaks are about 20 miles away and are at an elevation of 7700’. This is one of the older mountain ranges in the area at 1700 million years. The peaks are made of quartzite and are resting upon granite. The 2nd largest amethyst mine in the US is locate on the mountain between the third and fourth peaks (from the left) and was once owned by the Tiffany Co. of New York City. There is also a large black pear population that lives in the mountain range.TEDDY BEAR RIDGE:
Speaking of bears, if you’ll look ahead and slightly to your right, you’ll see a rock outcropping on the ridgeline. To some people, it looks a little like the head of a teddy bear. You can see its left ear sticking up, its nose is pointing at us, and there are two slits for eyes. This is called Teddy Bear Ridge. So if we don’t see any other wildlife...that’s probably going to be it!
LAVA CLIFFS:The cliffs to our right (starboard) are called “The Lava Cliffs”; however, this isn’t lava in the truest form, but a kind of fine grained granite. The predominate geology of the area is volcanic; consisting of lava, volcanic ash, and granite. And granite is intruded Magma, or does not get exposed to air. It slowly cools,
partially crystallizes, and then turns quite hard.The black streaks you see on the face of the cliffs are evidence of past water flows. When it rains, which is a relatively rare event here, since we only average 7.5” per year, much of the water is runoff, but some percolates into the ground to leach out minerals such as manganese and iron oxide, which are then deposited as the black streaks. Geologists call this “desert varnish”The green patches you see on the rocks (also yellow or reddish) are a plant called lichen, a 
combination of algae and fungi living in close association. The organic acids produced by the lichen break down the rock, eventually to soil, so other plants can gain a foothold. This is normally a good thing unless you operate a National Park that depends on the rock formations….like Mt. Rushmore. There, they have to periodically clean the lichen from the rock faces or they will deteriorate faster than normal.WILDLIFE:
There is considerable wildlife associated with Saguaro Lake. The canyon to our right, Willow Springs Canyon, is a known nesting
area for the American Bald Eagle. We normally see some on almost every trip, so you may want to keep a sharp eye, and you may see them sitting on the rock ledges, or flying from ridge to ridge. Other birds we have seen on previous trips include Great Blue Herons, Green Herons, Belted Kingfishers, Osprey, Turkey Vultures, several Grebes, and of course that black bird with a white bill, the American Coot. By the way, the black birds with a brownish 
head and breast you saw in the ticket area, asking for handouts, were Great-tailed Grackles. I have a bird book with me, so you may want to
look up a bird, or you can just ask me and I’ll take a guess at it! That guess, though, comes with a little experience since I spent 30 years with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.Now as we come around this corner, one of the best pictures that you can take (in my humble opinion) is looking up the canyon at the Four Peaks.SHIP ROCK:
On our left, you can see a rock in the middle of the channel. It is called Ship Rock. To some, this has the appearance of an old sailing ship with all the sails up. But it’s actually the core of an extinct volcano. When it stopped erupting, the lava inside cooled and plugged the opening. Over many years, the softer material
surrounding the vent has been slowly eroding away.Today, it’s used as a navigation aid for the boaters. There is a battery powered flashing beacon on top and 2 reflectors down near the water line. When one of those fast, high powered boats come around the corner pulling a skier and not paying attention, they sometimes hit this rock. And at that time we have to temporarily rename the rock “ShipWRECK Rock”.SAGUAROS ON HILLSIDE:
On the hillside in this cove is a good stand of saguaro cactus, the lake namesake. This is the largest cactus in the US, found only within the Sonoran Desert of the American SW and parts of Mexico. And they are only found below the 3500’ elevation because they are susceptible to freezing. With all that water inside, they will burst open like a frozen pop can and eventually die.It is a very slow growing cactus…only 1 inch per year. And to get started, they need the protection of a “nurse plant” for shade and moisture.They can live more than 250 years and can get as tall as 60’ although the average is 30-40’. After a very wet winter, some of them may weigh as much as 10 tons, soaking up as much as 200 gallons during a storm. They have a shallow root system, but maintain their balance by wrapping their roots around subsurface rocks. They also use their branches, or arms,
for balance.They start to form those branches between 65 and 75 years of age and are at least 40 years old before they start producing flowers. The white, waxy flower, which opens between mid April through the end of May, is the state flower of Arizona. The flowers open only at night, remain open through the following afternoon and then close for good. They are pollinated by birds during the day, and by Longnose Bats at night.Sometimes you may see holes in some of the larger saguaros. They were created by woodpeckers and flickers, and then may be used by other birds when abandoned. The temperature inside one of these cavities is normally 15 degrees cooler than the outside temperature. That is quite an advantage on a hot Arizona summer day.SAGUARO LAKE MARSHES:
Again, Saguaro Lake has a wide variety of habitat. We've gone through the canyon, and now we are entering the marsh habitat. This type of habitat will have a larger variety of waterfowl associated with it. The cove off to our right is a good fishing area protected from fast boat wakes.There are many sport fish in Saguaro lake that include:
Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Bass, Channel Catfish, Walleye Pike, Crappie, Bluegill, Sunfish, Shad, and the Arizona Game & Fish Department stocks Rainbow and Brown Trout during the winter months. I know the fishing is pretty good since I see lots of boats up there, I just don't know how the "catching" is!BAGLEY FLATS CAMPGROUND:
The boat dock on the right marks the location of Bagley Flats Campground, a facility built and maintained by the US Forest Service for the pleasure of the boating public on Saguaro Lake.The campground includes picnic benches, barbecue pits, rock lined fire pits, a natural com-post-ing restroom, and an emergency telephone system.Camping is permitted along the shores of Saguaro Lake, however, at this campground you have the advantage of boat only campers. There are no roads to this campground. And the dock allows you to tie your boat for the night and have it floating the next morning rather than finding it high and dry at other shoreline locations after they lower the lake level.However, the disadvantages of camping on the lake, even here, include the Diamond-back Rattlesnake and the Bark Scorpion. Two critters you don't want crawling in bed with you!Bagley Flats marks the halfway point of our cruise today. We have gone 5 miles and the lake continues another 5 miles to the Mormon Flats Dam that holds back Canyon Lake. However, due to the narrowness of the canyon and the limited maneuverability of the Desert Belle, the Forest Service requests that we turn around here.
CRESTED SAGUARO:
However, I will go another couple hundred yards, up to that buoy, to show you a very unusual feature here on Saguaro Lake, the Crested Saguaro. Look to your right, about 2:00 when we get up there and you will see a Saguaro with a fan shaped top. It is caused by a damaged growing tip, and rather than forming branches, it forms that crested shape. And that only happens in one out of 200,000 saguaro.ROCKS OPPOSITE CAMPGROUND:
As we make our slow turn-around, please keep an eye on the rocks across the lake. On previous tours, we have seen Desert Bighorn Sheep on those rocks. Other wildlife we’ve seen at one point or another during our tours include: Mule deer, Javelina, Coyote, Coati, Bobcat, Fox, and Mountain Lions.SALT RIVER NAME:
You may have wondered how the Salt River got its name since it is fresh water. Well, back in the 16th century, some Spanish explorers were...I guess, exploring...and found salt deposits along the banks. So they called the river Rio Salado, which means “river of salt”.The Salt River has its origin up in the White Mountains on Arizona’s eastern border with New Mexico, and is formed by the joining of the White River and the Black River. Now, call me crazy, but if the White River & Black River came together, I’ld call the resulting stream the “Grey River”! Or at least the “Salt & Pepper River”.
PRICKLY PEAR & CHOLLA CACTUS:
Now we'll head down the Sonoran Desert side of the lake and point out some representative vegetation. Between these large Saguaro cacti, we see a smaller cactus with large flat fleshy pads and large
spines. These are Prickly Pear Cacti. There are a dozen varieties of Prickly Pear, and the ones without those large spines are the Beavertail Cactus variety. These varieties are available commercially as jams and jellies, and in restraurant salads.On the open hillside just beyond them you can see another small cactus that is fuzzy-looking. Well, they are anything but 
fuzzy, although they are called Teddy Bear Cholla. There are 20 species of Cholla and they can be identified their segmented stems and branches, and they all have sheaths over their needles. So if you're carefull, which apparently I wasn't, you can grab one of those needles and pull that sheath off. But you may get stuck by the adjacent spines and when those sheaths break off in your finger, the resulting pain is a lot worse and lasts a lot longer than a normal cactus spine prick.....trust me on that!
SPIDER ROCK:The rock on the right is known as Spider Rock. If you look on the face of the rock, you’ll see a lacy pattern that looks like cobwebs to some people. It’s actually an example of another type of volcanic formation called "tuff”, which is solidified volcanic ash. This is brecciated ash tuff, meaning the original tuff was broken into angular fragments in a process of folding. Then
the fragments were glued together again, over time, as water percolated through the fragments. But you can call them "cobwebs"!The mountains surrounding the lake are called the Gold Mountains. They were the result of volcanic activity from the Superstition Mountains just to the Southwest of here, and are about 15 to 35 million years old. Geologically, that’s a very young formation, since the Four Peaks behind us are 1700 million years old.
BARREL CACTUS:On the hillside here, you can see a few saguaros and a smaller cactus that looks like a young saguaro. These are actually Barrel
Cacti. They can be identified by their cylinder-shaped body, and their reddish hue due to their needles. At a closer look their needles are curved like fish hooks and flat in profile, whereas saguaro needles are straight and round.They are also one of the largest cacti in the Southwest, growing from 5’ to 11’ tall and live up to 130 years. You may see them leaning over and think they are getting heavy or are damaged. But like other plants they grow toward the sun. These cacti, however, always grow toward the south to avoid exposure to the sun, or sunburn. And because of this trait, they are also known as the “compass cactus”.SAGUARO LAKE TREES;
As we work our way back down the canyon, the lower slope along here, and growing on the rock ahead, you can see a light green shrub with green stems and branches. This is the Palo Verde, or 
“green stick” in Spanish, and is the Arizona State tree. Yeah, they call those “trees” around here! Since they are drought deciduous, or shed their leaves during extended dry spells, they rely on their green stems and branches to carry on the energy-producing process of photosynthesis. And this tree is also used quite extensively for landscaping and highway beautification projects.There are two other trees I would like to point out along this shoreline. The large tree near the waterline here, 
is a Mesquite tree. It’s upper branches, or newer growth, are 
reddish brown in color and have a zigzag pattern. It belongs to the Pea Family, producing long pods, and has a root system that is wide-spreading and deep-reaching, sometimes reaching 150' to 200’ below the surface. The larger tree behind this tree with gray stems & branches, and whose leaves are a darker green with denser 
foliage, is the Ironwood Tree. This is also a member of the Pea Family. The wood of this tree is very popular for those decorative carvings you see at every wide spot in the road, 
and is so dense and heavy that if a branch is thrown into the lake, it will sink. These trees are also one the longest lived species in the Sonoran Desert, living up to 1500 years.Now nearly home, we head out of the canyon into the main part of the lake again.BUTCHER JONES BEACH RECREATION AREA:
Off to the right, up at the end of the cove is the Butcher Jones Beach Recreation Area, a popular day-use-only site built and maintained by the US Forest Service.It has a nice sandy beach for swimming that is protected from boats and a fishing dock that is handicapped accessible. There are also picnic sites with barbecues, about 10 miles of hiking trails, some of which follow the banks of the lake, and 4WD roads which can take suitable vehicles back to beach areas we passed earlier.You can get to this site by taking the road outside our parking area (the Bush Highway), go north about 1 mile, and turn right at the sign.The Butcher Jones Recreation Area was named after Dr. William J. Jones who was a surgeon in the area. Now how he acquired the nickname “Butcher”, we don't know, and we aren't asking!SUNSET CLIFFS:
The cliffs ahead of us are the Sunset Cliffs, another example of the volcanic formation of tuff. This is called “welded tuff” formed by volcanic ash from the Superstition Mountains that was so hot when it was deposited that it fused together. This example is about 300 feet thick. If you want to know why they call them the
Sunset Cliffs, just come down to the Lakeshore Restaurant for dinner, along about sun down, and watch the sun set on those cliffs. With the right atmospheric conditions, the sight is just awesome.The mountain ahead of us and above the restaurant is Stewart Mountain, that the dam was named after. Stewart was a rancher in the area, and as far as we know, he didn't have a nickname.SAGUARO DEL NORTE RECREATION SITE:
To our right is the Saguaro Del Norte Recreation Site, another
site developed by the US Forest Service for public use. This site has 2 boat launching ramps, picnic areas, fishing docks which are handicap accessible, and swimming areas. This area, under the Sunset Cliffs, is all open 24 hours a days, 7 days a week.EDITORIAL:
Now the bad news! To park here, or the Butcher Jones site, you need a parking permit. They used to sell them at the booth outside our parking area, but now you have to go back into Mesa to a Circle K or Big 5 Sporting Good store, or down the Bee-Line Highway across from the Casino, to purchase your permit. You can tune to the Forest Service information station, 1610 AM, for details, and there is also a small sign by the Forest Service booth with the purchase locations. Just thought I would give you a heads-up before you got here and wanted to park and have a picnic or do some hiking, and then realized you would have to make a long round trip for a parking permit. The buildling with the brown roof in front of the boat is the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office and First Aid
Station.On the left is the Saguaro Lake Marina that we passed on the way out. It has slips for 400 boats ranging in length from 24 to 50 feet. And they have a full service machine shop, and ship’s stores for fuel, fishing supplies, and boat rentals.And of course above our dock is the Lakeshore Restaurant, consistently voted one of the best places in the Phoenix area for outside dinning . It’s open 7 days a week for breakfast & lunch, and 5 nights a week (Wed – Sun) for dinner.SALUTATION:
Well, on behalf of the management of the Desert Belle, I want to thank you all for sailing with us today. We hope you enjoyed the tour. If you did we want you to tell your friends, and if you didn't we'd rather you kept your opinion to yourself! No, actually we want to here that too, so we can improve the trip as much as possible. Remember, the Desert Belle is available for charters, and the Lakeshore Restaurant is available for catering those charters. Just pick up a brochure and visit our web site or give us a call for more information.Make sure you pick all your valuables. Anything you leave, I get to keep! I would appreciate it if everybody would remain seated as we dock the Desert Belle, attach the lines, and put the ramp back to the boat. On occasion, we make a hard landing and we don't want to through anybody overboard.As we make our approach, you can listen to "Arizona" by Rex Allen Jr. which is the Arizona State song.
Thank you again for coming!
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