Lake Pleasant Regional Park is a Maricopa County Park and located in Morristown, Arizona, about an hour north of Phoenix.
Lake Pleasant is a “man-made lake” or an artificial reservoir nestled in the Sonoran Desert Wilderness. It has over 23,000 acres of water, aka it’s a fairly large lake that offers boating, swimming, cliff jumping, kayaking, fishing, and even scuba diving!
Outside of the water, Lake Pleasant Regional Park has over 180 hiking trails ranging from easy for the kids to more challenging trails for the bigger kids. My kids especially enjoy the Lake Pleasant discovery center and animal-themed playground located just outside the discovery center.
Camping is available at Lake Pleasant. Lake Pleasant offers RV camping with full RV hookup sites and partial hookup sites. They also allow tent camping. We have yet to camp at Lake Pleasant, but our friends have camped there many times, and while there are designated camping areas, you are also welcome to camp in non-designated areas except for the shoreline. Lake Pleasant doesn’t allow shoreline camping
Another popular activity at Lake Pleasant is to go scorpion hunting in the summer! Maybe a slightly frightening thought, but young kids love to go out there with their black lights to hunt and discover scorpions nestling on the warm summer rocks!
Inside Lake Pleasant Regional Park, there are two waterfront restaurants to choose from. Dillon’s Bayou, which offers “Kansas City BBQ,” and Scorpion Bay Grill, which offers salads, sandwiches, burgers, and cocktails. Scorpion Bay Grill is also are dog-friendly.
Lake Pleasant does, however, allow outside food for your lake adventures, so you’re welcome to do that too!
One very popular attraction at Lake Pleasant is “The World’s Tallest Floating Slide.” The H2-Slide is a 34-foot tall slide that plunges you into the water. The same company that offers the H2-Slide offers H2-Fly, which is where a water jet propels the participant into the air. It’s really interesting and is on my husband’s “must-try” list!
Lake Pleasant has so much to offer and is one of our favorite places to adventure and explore with the family!
Our Favorite Hikes with young kids are:
- Pipeline Canyon Trail (we just hike to the bridge and back)
- The Wild Burro Trail (with a detour to the water)
Park Hours: Open Daily – Year Round, Park Entry Fees: $7 per vehicle per day – Bicycle $2 a day – Per Vessel $4 a day motorized and $2 a day non-motorized. Annual Pass: $85 (for the vehicle only).
Lake Pleasant Regional Park
41835 N. Castle Hot Springs Rd.
Morristown, AZ 85342
(602) 506-2930
Another overview of Lake Pleasant can be found here. There is also a favorite water spot within the Lake Pleasant Regional Park, learn more here!
