Roper Lake State Park
— — a small lake with a hot spring at the edge.
Not only on a wall.
“A 32-acre lake on the floor of the Gila Valley, with the Pinaleño Mountains rising sharply on the south horizon and Mount Graham at their crest. The water is fed by warm artesian springs, and a stone-walled hot tub sits a few steps from the shore. Cottonwoods line the picnic loop, and the high desert grass runs out flat in every other direction. The park is small enough to walk in an hour. In the early morning the lake holds the mountain upside down on its surface, and somebody is usually already in the spring. from the studio
Roper Lake State Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Roper Lake State Park sits about six miles south of Safford in Graham County, on the floor of the upper Gila Valley. The park is built around a small 32-acre lake and a separate, smaller Dankworth Pond a mile north. Elevation at the shore is roughly 3,060 feet, with the Pinaleño Mountains rising to the south to 10,724 feet at Mount Graham — the highest peak in southern Arizona. The park is operated by Arizona State Parks and was opened in 1972 after the land was donated by the Roper family, who had farmed and used the springs since the 1930s.
The lake and the hot tub share the same source — warm artesian springs that surface across the valley floor. The stone-walled soaking pool at the shoreline holds water at about 100°F year-round, and is open to day-use and overnight visitors. The lake itself is stocked by Arizona Game and Fish with rainbow trout in winter and largemouth bass, bluegill and channel catfish through the warm months. No gas-powered boats are allowed, which keeps the surface still enough to mirror the Pinaleños on a calm morning. A short fishing pier and several shoreline ramadas line the eastern bank.
The park is open year-round, with a day-use fee per vehicle and a small campground of roughly 70 sites, including cabins and a group area. The hot tub is open to all visitors and tends to be quiet on weekday mornings. Summer afternoons run above 95°F in the valley; the higher Pinaleños above offer relief, with the Swift Trail climbing 21 miles from valley floor to spruce-fir forest near the summit of Mount Graham. The park is the staging point for visits to the Mount Graham International Observatory, which sits at 10,470 feet and is open by guided tour in summer.