Tuesday, January 30, 2018

1/30 Lake Pleasant Regional Park

Maricopa County, the county where Phoenix is located and well-known for its infamous sheriff, has several county-owned parks.  I am at one of them, Lake Pleasant, located northeast of Phoenix.  I have been here before, and it is one of my favorites in this part of the country.  It has all the things I like in a campground:  gorgeous view, excellent Verizon signal, and paved sites with water and electric.  The only thing it lacks is a laundomat, but I have enough clothes for a few more days.

It is also in the Sonoran Desert, so you get a lot of the big cacti, like these saguaro.  There are more on the entrance road than in the campground, but it is still the ultimate western landscape.


  This is my prime site.  It pays to make your reservations very early!

It can be very hot here, as high as 120 degrees F, so the camp hosts get covered sites.  Camp hosts are unpaid volunteers who get a free campsite for a period of time in exchange for doing maintenance and making sure campers behave.  


They have a brand-new visitor center since i was here four years ago.  
My favorite part of this regional park!  This is why I am getting 5 bars of Verizon data with my mobile hotspot. 

There is also a walking trail to the visitor center, but it is uphill. 

View of the dam from the visitor center.  The thing sticking out is the water intake tower.  Water from the lake goes to Phoenix mostly during the summer.



I had ridden my bike to the visitor center, so back down the road to the campground.

Nice view of the lake.  This was taken on Sunday, so it was very busy. Check out the group of little sailboats.

Guess the sailboats are not that little! 

Today, I decided to hike down the short trail to a small viewpoint below.  Trail was not bad.

Since this little point is on a hill, it makes a good place for a lookout.  Obviously, there was not a lake here 1,000 years ago, but it would still have been the top of a hill overlooking a large valley with a river flowing through it.  Probably farms on the land below, as well, as they could have used the river water to irrigate their crops.


View across to another campground and the boat launch ramp.  These campsites are low so do not have the views that my campground has, but it is more convenient for boaters.

Looking back up to my motorhome. It it just to the left of center at the top. I have large chocks on two wheels, by the way! 

A close-up view!  The only problem with hiking downhill is that you have to hike uphill on the way back.  Whew.

Beautiful lake!  And today, it was 80 degrees out! 

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