This was really a scouting hike to check out Frye Mesa road up to the Frye Canyon Trail #36 that I have been wanting to complete for many years now. Problem is that the road up to the TH has been in just terrible shape for many years and I wanted to see if I want to tear up my 2 wheel drive truck to get up to it. In the last year Frye Mesa Reservoir has become a local big deal as the Game & Fish and Forest Service have improved the road and stocked the small lake with the endangered Gila Trout for catch & release, so I made the lake my destination for the day. As expected, the road up is a little better and doable in a 2wd, but not a road that I'll be tearing my little Ranger up on until more improvements are made. The hike up the roads switchbacks and across Frye Mesa was very scenic and this was a great hike in it's own right. The views of the now snow capped Pinalenos just got better & better as I arrived and dropped down to the reservoir. I haven't been to the reservoir in many years and forgot just how beautiful it is tucked away in Frye Canyon! I spent the first hour exploring the dam and doing a little fishing, caught 3 small brown trout, but none of the new Gila trout. I then walked around the lake and up into the upper canyon that feeds the lake to the big waterfall, this canyon is awesome and will be explored more in future trips. This was one of those trips that I wished I had packed for an overnight, I really did not want to leave the lake and ended up spending a little too much time on top and had to hike the last mile back in the cold dark. I really enjoyed this one !!!