Big Lake is a reservoir in Arizona's White Mountains', with attractive size, recreational activities, and visitor amenities.

As with most trout waters in Arizona, catch rates are best in spring, during late April and May after the winter ice thaws.

Big Lake is about 40 minutes or 26 miles (42 km) south of Springerville and Eagar, accessed by paved road via Highways 260 and 261.

From Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside, Big Lake is 47 miles (60 km) or approximately a one hour drive east using Highways 260 and 273.

Access to Big Lake is restricted in the winter when roads are closed due to the large amounts of snow, generally December to early April.

Big Lake is situated at 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the White Mountains at the base of Mount Baldy (11,409 ft) in the Apache-Sitgreaves National forest.

The communities of Alpine, Blue River, Greer, Nutrioso, Sunrise, Springerville, Eagar in Arizona, and Luna in New Mexico were evacuated.

Big Lake has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Csa), due to its high elevation at 9,000 feet (2,700 m).

During the summer months, monsoon storms develop daily in the late morning and early afternoon hours, bringing heavy rain, strong wind, thunder, lightning, and even hail.

White Mountains also holds the record for most precipitation in a calendar year at 58.92 inches (1496.6 mm) On Monday, November 5, 2001, the Northern Lights were visible from Greer and other areas around the Mogollon Rim and White Mountains including Payson, Heber-Overgaard, Show Low, Eagar, Alpine, and McNary.

At 8:00-10:30 pm, the people of east central Arizona were treated to the natural light display due to extremely strong Solar flares that allowed the Aurora Borealis to be seen this far south.

Trees like Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Maple, Boxelder, and Oak, can be found in the riparian habitats in the area Juniper, Pine, Aspen, Fir, and Spruce dot the surrounding landscape.

This lightning bug is rare and is only found in a few locations in Pima, Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, and Apache counties in south eastern Arizona.

[3] The last female Jaguar in Arizona was shot in 1963 near Mount Baldy and 4 months later the last male in the White Mountains was killed.