Boating, Hiking & Camping Lake Pleasant Peoria Arizona

Lake Pleasant is the second largest lake (next to Roosevelt Lake)in metro Phoenix. Within an hour from downtown, Lake Pleasant is a very popular lake for boating, watersports, fishing and swimming. It is located in Northwest Peoria.

With 10,000 acres of water, there is plenty of space for fishing in the many coves or having fun water skiiing, tubing,jetskiing, kneeboarding, or just enjoy a beautiful day on the lake.

Park Entrance

There are two entrances to Lake Pleasant Park, the main entrance and the North entrance. The main entrance will take you to the campgrounds, the 10 lane boat ramp, visitor center, hiking trails and the new marina. After the booth take your first right you will follow this road until you see the 10 lane boat ramp to your left. There is plenty of parking for vehicles and trailers.

A few miles north of the main entrance there is a second entrance. Aprox. 3 miles and you'll find the smaller 4 lane boat ramp and a nice spot to pitch a tent for the day to go swimming. This area is nice to launch a boat from because it is less crowded.

Lake Pleasant is the perfect spot to spend the day on the water, with many coves to explore there you can find a less crowded spot or work your way over to Humbug Bay where there are tons of boats hanging out.

If you don't have your own boat you can rent boats or jetski from the marina.

Address: 41835 N. Castle Hot Springs Rd

Phone: 602-372-7460

Lake Pleasant Harbor Marina

If you are driving from Phoenix, you'll notice the signs for Lake Pleasant Harbor Marina several miles before the Lake Pleasant Park main entrance. The marina is located right off of Carefree Hwy at 8708 W. Harbor Blvd.

The marina has two public 4 lane boat ramps. One located on the North side and one on the South side. The north boat ramp has some very pretty views, both the south and the north side are nice to launch a boat from as we experienced less current when loading and unloading. Wild burros could be seen from this area while we were boating.

From here you can also rent Jet Skis, Waverunners and Boats

They also offer boat storage, restrooms, boat fueling, scuba diving, Bar & Grille, shaded picnic tables, and RV Resort

Hiking and Camping at Lake Pleasant

There are several hiking trails located around Lake Pleasant as well as areas to camp. There are two campgrounds at Lake Pleasant, both are desert setting campgrounds, saguaros and various desert scrub brush. The Desert Tortoise Campground is located just before the 10 lane boat ramp and has short walking distances to the water. This campground has restrooms,showers and RV dump station. Ramadas offer shade at each site.

The Roadrunner Campground is just before the Visitor's Center and offers restrooms,showers and a playground, but is a little further walk to the water. All camp sites are considered developed in the Roadrunner campground with water and electrical hookups.

The hiking trails have some nice views of the dark blue water against the desert backdrop. There are three main hiking trails: At 2 miles Pipeline Canyon Trail is the longest trail with wonderful views of the western lake shoreline. The trail can be accessed from the North entry right off of Cottonwood Lane. The Roadrunner trail and the Visitor Center Trail are both accessed from the Visitor Center parking lot. The Roadrunner trail at 1.5 miles is slightly shorter than the Pipeline Canyon trail and is a desert hike that overlooks the water. The Visitor Center trail is a short 1/2 mile interpretative desert hike.

The Visitor's center has some information on the lake and this desert area as well as some nice views of the Waddell Dam and the surrounding lake.

Wildlife at Lake Pleasant

We have often seen wild burros and bighorn sheep at Lake Pleasant, and once we saw a mountain lion (which was pretty cool because we were in a boat and not hiking). I personally haven't seen any, but I know that there are rattlesnakes here as well.