Ayer Lake, named after Charles Ayer, was created the same year to help irrigate the lower portion of the park. Ayer Lake is the source of irrigation water for the entire collection plants. The lake gets it’s water from Queen Creek.

There’s a shallow well located in the canyon just east of the suspension bridge that spans Queen Creek and leads to the High Trail. Water from the well is piped up and over the cliffs, then flows downhill through a drainage to the lake, entering at the east end.

If you’re walking near the Picket Post Mansion, listen and look for the artificial “waterfall” splashing down from the cliffs above when the lake is being refilled! The Desert Pupfish and the Gila Top Minnow live in Ayer Lake. They are both endangered fish and are used by Game & Fish to stock other bodies of water where the fish have died off.