Lyman Lake
By John Rezell

The intense heat radiating from the massive dark gray chunks of lava rock scattered along the hillside on the east shore of Lyman Lake slowly sapped our energy as we hiked the path, exploring an ancient world brought to us through the amazing petroglyphs etched into the boulders.

Ranger Sue Hartin, who leads weekly Saturday and Sunday morning adventures from Memorial Day through the end of September, noted the temperature on this side of the lake is 10 to 20 degrees warmer because of the lava monuments. She paused in front a rock with a number of small, unique symbols gracing its side as she weaved together yet another tale that had my daughters riveted.

According to Hartin, the legend of the tribes that lived here as far back as 600 B.C., and abruptly vanished from the area around the mid-1300s, says that young girls between the ages of 9 and 12 were sent up into these hills without any food and water.

Their challenge was to survive on their own for five days. If they overcame the brutal conditions, they etched their mark in the rock as proof. The survivors were deemed strong enough for marriage — a little test to ensure the survival of the fittest.

The human remains found by archeologists at the village site here tell us that these people only lived to about 35 years old, and were only about five feet tall. So you can imagine how tiny and frail a young girl age 9 or 12 would be.

Since my daughter Sierra would be 9 in just six weeks or so, the thought of her abandoned here is somewhat unnerving. Of course, back then, as a native child having grown up in the wild living off the land, she would have garnered plenty of survival skills other than those our girls have from watching television's “Survivor.”

When Hartin asked Sierra if she would have liked the test, Sierra said flatly “No!”
Taylor, her 6-year-old sister, however, didn't hestitate. She piped up enthusiastically, “I would love it!”

As we continued down the path back to the pontoon boat for our return to the other side of the reservoir, Taylor downloaded her survival plan. She would break apart rocks and hollow them out to hold water. She would make a fishing pole from sticks and, referencing a tip from Ranger Sue that the natives made fishing nets from hair, she would make fishing line from her own locks.

Once properly motivated by sibling rivalry, Sierra forged her plan to make spears from sticks for her fishing tool.

The next morning, while I typed their experiences onto my laptop as I watched the sun rise over the peaks to the east, the irony struck me. Recording history has come a long way since the days of chipping petrogyphs into rock using antlers and stone.

I should wish our history will be so well preserved.

While I wondered what would prompt someone to spend, no doubt, hours chiseling messages into rock, I didn't think twice about the impact on my daughters.

They spent the rest of the afternoon following our hike recreating the many petroglyphs in crayon, pondering the mysteries Ranger Sue posed to us. Why are there so many scorpions etched into this rock at nearly 6500 feet in elevation, when scorpions don't live above 5000 feet?

What could the spiral illustrations signifying generations spent on traveling on trails be trying to tell us? And what about those 13 perfectly spaced Xs on the ultimate rock? The Greek calendar, maybe?

When we pulled into Lyman Lake State Park, down along the Little Colorado River nestled almost on the border between Arizona and New Mexico, we had adventure on our minds, for sure. We were headed from Santa Fe to the Grand Canyon. We needed to find a place to spend a day or two camping, within a day's drive of our ultimate destination.

We found Lyman Lake by pure luck while perusing the AAA CampBook. We had no idea we had struck gold.

At first I thought a nice little hike among the petroglyphs would be nothing more than one of the ways to help a hot, dry day in the desert pass more quickly. You know how it is. Sometimes you think you want time to fly. I mean, seriously, imagine the adventure awaiting us at the Grand Canyon.

I suppose I'm like a lot of parents, fostering dreams of epic journeys whenever we head out on the open road. (Tell me you don't feel a little Indiana Jones inside whenever you trot the kids out on a hike.)

I'll admit, that was my mindset as we headed out to join Ranger Sue that morning. I tried to remind myself that I might have huge expectations that, as usual, might not come to fruition.

But when we met at the boat dock, and loaded onto the pontoon boat for the trip to the other side, well, my heart rate jumped a notch or two. The boat trip set the tone for adventure. When we reached the other side, and began our trek through the petroglyphs, I was, simply, blown away.

The petroglyphs look as though they were tapped into the rock days ago, not centuries ago. Ranger Sue admits that much, if not all, of her narration is simply speculation. But that's what makes it such a wonderful adventure.

While kids love to learn obscure facts here and there, what they love best is to take a fact and run with it. And that's what my girls got the opportunity to do.

Later we picked through pieces of pottery, bones and tools left behind at Rattlesnake Point Pueblo, a one-story pueblo in a village that housed about 15 families. We looked at the roped-off dig, and wondered who lived there and how, striking up archeological discussions with other families digging through rubble.

On our summer adventure of a lifetime, which included stops at the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Yosemite and Crater Lake — not to mention Disneyland — the petroglyphs of Lyman Lake captured our imaginations, and fueled us with ideas to ponder for an entire summer.

most photos courtesy of Arizona State Parks

If you go:
Lyman Lake State Park
P.O. Box 1428
St. Johns, Arizona 85936
928-337-4441
www.azstateparks.com/Parks/parkhtml/lyman.html

Directions:

The park is located 11 miles south of St. Johns on US 191.

Park Hours
The park is open 365 days a year. Quiet hours are 10:00 p.m. to 7 a.m. Checkout time for camping is 2 p.m.

Petroglyph Hike
10 a.m., Saturday and Sunday, beginning Memorial Day and running through the end of September.

Accommodations
The park has 61 camping sites (38 electrical hookup sites and 23 non-hookup sites). Most camping sites have a ramada that provides shade and wind break.

The park also has cabins and yurts for rent.