A sigh of relief
As I’m driving my old, worn out, Chevy suburban up the mountain with my five highly excited, impatient children with fishing poles in each hand, I make the right hand turn on to the dirt road with a sigh of relief. We all shout out from reading the sign on the road, Navajo Lake! Navajo is my favorite lake here in Southern Utah. To me, it’s the feeling one gets by going over the hills and through the woods to grandma’s house. Navajo Lake is the one place in nature that I can go to, to relax and get away from my daily stresses in my life.
Navajo Lake can be described as the Great Outdoors but, to me there is so much more than meets the eye to describing this pristine Lake. I want to start with the road I turn off to get to the lake. The dirt road to me means, freedom, unbuckle the seat belts, roll down the windows and shout Yee Haw! We are out of the city and the only rules here in the mountains are the rules of Mother Nature. The lake sits at an elevation of about 9200 feet, giving the weather full force to do what it wants, when it wants. That’s what I like about my favorite place the best. The lake has no visible outlets except natural sink holes that water flows out gently, the water came be calm and peaceful upon arriving. The water may tend to sit motionless for hours upon hours giving me the gratifying sounds of the woods around the lake.
Within a brief moment the water can be ruffling waves hitting the shore with cloud covers and snow peppering down like a blizzard in the middle of May. We run to the nearest big tree for cover and wait for the mini little storm to pass, knowing that it won’t last long. At certain times you can watch a storm roll in and out of the lake area. The clouds appear so close that I can jump up and touch them. Navajo Lake has been known to be called Pa-Cu-Ay, meaning “Cloud Lake,” because of the clouds that linger in and out by the Paiute Indian tribe. We always remember to take jackets to the...