Navajo Lake
Navajo Lake is a reservoir located in San Juan County and Rio Arriba County in northwestern New Mexico, in the southwestern United States. Portions of the reservoir extend into Archuleta County in southern Colorado. The lake is part of the Colorado River Storage Project, which here manages the upper reaches of the San Juan River, storing and releasing water that is used locally for irrigation, or ultimately reaching the Colorado River in Utah. Water is impounded in Navajo Lake by the earth- and rock-filled Navajo Dam, long and high, completed in 1962. The lake is over long and lies at an elevation of up to.
The construction of the dam and the resulting lake flooded and destroyed one of the Navajos' most sacred sites.
Two shoreline areas near the dam in New Mexico are part of the Navajo Lake State Park. The river shorelines below the dam are also part of the state park. The lake has smallmouth bass, black crappie, northern pike, channel catfish, and trout.
