Photos & text by Allanna Jackson

On Thanksgiving Day 2022 the temperature hovered around freezing with a north breeze when the Jackson family took a picnic lunch to Quemado Lake. Ian was the only one of us who had been there. We loaded Martin and CeCe’s Honda Passport and all five of us climbed in. Ian drove out AZ Highway 260 from Pinetop-Lakeside to Eagar, then to Springerville where we took US Highway 60 to Quemado, New Mexico. When we crossed the state line we were pleasantly surprised to see large ponds of water in the high desert grasslands. The pastures were dotted with a few junipers and a lot of cows.

It was mostly sunny until we got to Quemado where a bank of foggy gray clouds obscured the mountains to the southeast. We turned south on NM32 and continued 14 miles to Quemado Lake Road/NM 103 where we turned east – directly underneath the clouds. Flurries of extremely fine snow dusted the windshield as we took the winding 4-mile gravel road into Quemado Lake. At the day-use area a sign saying “boat launch ramp closed” stood sentry over dry, rocky ground well above the water. There were no picnic tables and no shelter from the north wind.

We drove up and around a hill looking for other options. Several campgrounds were closed, but El Caso campground was open. Someone had a travel trailer set up there. We drove through the campground to park at the trailhead for Largo 

Trail #14.

The snow flurries, dampened picnic tables, and a cold north wind had us wondering if our 2 1/2-hour drive was for naught. We sat in the warm car to eat lunch. By the time we were done the snow flurries had stopped. Sunshine broke through the storm clouds, revealing patches of blue sky. We bundled up for a short walk down the Largo trail to the lake shore. I opted to put my blue rain poncho over the top of my jacket for an added layer of wind protection.

The clouds rapidly blew away leaving it sunny but chilly as we strolled along a dirt road between the campground and the lake. A hundred yards down the road we found a dry creek bed. A puddle on the west side of the road had yellow-orange slime around the edges. On the east side of the road there was a pool of water so clear we could see the bottom of the puddle and reflections of the trees and clouds simultaneously, but no signs of life in it. A small shelf of ice hung an inch above one side of the puddle.

Quemado Lake is above 7,000 feet. The trees in the canyon are an unusual mix of species: Ponderosa pine, Pinon pine, Aspens, Cottonwoods, Junipers, and more. Wood stake trail signs followed the road around the toe of a hill and across a meadow at the bottom of a valley that is probably underwater when the lake is full. An animal trail followed the ridge of a low hill toward the water. We took the animal trail. The lake was extremely low with dark patches that appeared to be rocks sticking up out of the water.

A flock of ducks flew across the lake and over the ridge to the south. The ducks were silhouetted against the westering sun so we identified them as ducks by their characteristic wing motion but couldn’t identify the species. A Great Blue Heron flew to the north edge of the lake. Another heron that we couldn’t identify by its silhouette flew southwest around the lake. The ducks made another pass across the canyon, flying north this time.

We spotted a hawk flying east. I asked Ian, “What kind is it?” Just at that instant, a gust of wind flipped the back of my rain poncho over my head so all I could see was blue fabric. The hawk was out of sight by the time I got the poncho straightened out. We all laughed. We never did figure out what kind of hawk it was.

Martin and CeCe picked their way carefully down the slope of the lake shore and followed Ian, Joy, and me part way out a peninsula overlooking the water. From there we could see that the shallow water was frozen and the “rocks” we thought we’d seen at a distance were actually holes in the ice. The deeper water closer to the dam was open but all the shallow edges of the lake were icy. An abundance of elk tracks revealed the area we’d crossed to get to the peninsula was frozen mud that would be marshy in warmer weather.

The clouds were returning, and it was getting colder in the late afternoon sun. We backtracked across the frozen marsh then took a different animal trail across the ridge back to Largo Trail. From there we backtracked along the road to the trailhead where we’d parked. Quemado Lake looks like an interesting place to explore more in warmer weather.

The drive home was pleasant. Storm clouds again dusted us with snow flurries and created a lovely pink and blue sunset. We saw one bull elk. Dusk was turning to darkness when we arrived home to enjoy our Thanksgiving feast with homemade pumpkin pie for dessert.



Quemado Lake Recreation Area is in western New Mexico, in the Apache National Forest, but it is managed by the Gila National Forest. Signs from both forests can be found at the campgrounds. The Recreation Area offers camping, fishing, boating, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing. Quemado Lake is stocked with trout and Tiger Muskies. The Tiger Muskies are catch-and-release only. New Mexico Game and Fish regulations apply.