RAINBOW LAKE

Rainbow Lake: The Jewel of Pinetop-Lakeside                  September 20, 2024

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In January 1979 I moved to Tucson with my pregnant wife and two year old daughter. Shortly after we discovered what “summer” really meant in the desert. Soon after that we discovered the White Mountains and Rainbow Lake. Our love affair with the white mountains continues to this day. In the early days we enjoyed the lake via the public access area docks and paddle boat rentals and ramp. Later we upgraded the experience to vacations at Lazy Oaks. Fishing, boating, hiking and picnics with our two daughters provided for beautiful cool interludes and made the desert heat tolerable. 

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I started a business in the mid 1980s, which allowed me to take longer White Mountains vacations with my family (which grew by one baby boy in 1987). Every summer, without exception, included at least one stretch of escape to the beauty of the pine forest and, of course, Rainbow Lake. In 1993 we purchased a lot in The Shores and in  1994 we moved into our summer home. It’s not lakefront, but it gives us access to Rainbow Lake. By then I was making my living by consulting and writing so we were able to spend entire summers in the mountains. 

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My kids and I loved watching the ducks, geese, great blue herons, lesser blue herons, osprey, and bald and golden eagles. Once we were floating in a rowboat in the midst of a flock of ducks when, suddenly, the entire flock disappeared. We looked up to see a Bald Eagle soaring majestically a few feet over our heads. On another occasion I caught a small rainbow trout and released it. Unfortunately the stress caused the little fish to die. As we fished we were startled by an osprey splashing down on the trout mere feet from the boat! It sounded like someone dropped a feather pillow into the lake. The osprey rose with the fish in its claws and shook vigorously, like a wet dog. Spectacular. 

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Osprey and Bald Eagles still visit Rainbow Lake every year. 

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Other lake-related activities included catching bullfrogs and bluegill with my kids and, later, grandkids. Rainbow Lake will always remind me of love. I’m sure that  you have your  own treasured memories. 

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It wasn’t only “Hallmark Moments”. I remember one dark episode when in late afternoon I saw a small column of smoke across Rainbow Lake to the west, the first sign of the monster that became the Rodeo-Chediski fire. Then there were the choking weeds that resulted from Rainbow Lake slowly getting shallower due to silt accumulating. The Shores contracted a noisy weed-eating machine that started at 7 AM to cut a path for boats to use to get out to the main lake from neighborhood inlets. The machine dumped large piles of dead weeds that blocked boat ramps and stunk up the common areas. As years went by the drought and issues with lake infrastructure caused the lake levels to drop in late summer to levels that left homeowners’ docks sitting in mud. Sometimes wildlife, such as deer and elk, became mired in the muck. Once my 9 year old son slipped on a slime covered rock at the edge of the “lake” and fell face-first  into the mud. I grabbed him by the belt and lifted  him out to the sucking sound of “Rainbow Lake Bog” resisting my efforts. 

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The weed problem was greatly improved when neighbors and other donors purchased sterile weed-eating carp. The carp do not, however,  solve the problem of declining water levels in late summer caused by the deteriorating infrastructure that creates Rainbow Lake. If this jewel of Pinetop-Lakeside is to survive then those of us who love Rainbow Lake must dig down and support the efforts of our friends and neighbors to save it. I urge you to support  the Rainbow Lake Conservation Company efforts to raise funds to qualify for a federal grant by contributing to their GoFundMe campaign here https://gofund.me/40d0b6b4.

 

Together we can save this treasure for future generations. 

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Tom Pyzdek