Lake Pleasant Regional Park Campground

This review is for the Desert Tortoise Campground. Overall, I enjoyed my stay here. Campsites are decent but a couple of shortcomings.

PROS Campsites have covered pavilions with a picnic table, fire ring, and gravel drives. Bathrooms are dated but clean and in good working order. Portable water is available at the rest rooms. Dumpsters are available.

CONS No hot water in bathrooms. No showers. Other campgrounds within the park had showers that you could use, but there was only one functioning bathhouse. No dishwashing station available. Boat noise on the lake is sometimes a disturbance.

It was great so clean and roomy

We stayed at Lake Pleasant for 2 weeks.  Had a beautiful site facing west, beautiful sunsets!  Water and electric.  This is a large county park in Maricopa county.  It has a man-made lake that is fine for boaters, but no beach for swimming.  Everything is rocky.  There are lots of great trails for hiking in the park.  Love the saguaros and teddy bear chollas.  There are wild burros in the park.  

Our biggest complaint is that the showers are NOT warm enough!  They are lukewarm at best and if it is windy a cool wind blows through the building and it is not heated.  Most people with RV's use their own showers.  We were in the Roadrunner campground.  There are several other loops.  Some do not have electricity but campers can use generators.

No frills but where else can you camp with burros? Nature Center was great and the staff was helpful. Showers were "meh".

Beautiful views of the lake, plenty to do. Busy on weekends and empty during the week.

Being near the lake is very nice. Our campsite was not level at all. Basically on the side of the hill. We could not reach the water hook up because of this. There are bathrooms and that’s the only amenity. Having two gate codes was frustrating. The map and signs are not very clear or easily navigated. People were friendly. The burrows and coyotes were the real party animals at night!

I camped for 5 nights in the Roadrunner campground of Lake Pleasant.  I had a site overlooking the lake and it was fantastic.  Easy to get my 39' toy hauler in and room enough that I didn't have to unhook and could even put out my rear ramp as a deck.

Great view, easy to back in site (watch for the picnic table awning!), good power and water, no sewer (although there's a dump site nearby) and no WiFi.  

I'll definitely go back.

We stayed at roadrunner campground. No big complaints. Some of the sites are kind of small but they do have parking areas for your vehicle if it does not fit on your pad with your RV. Bathroom areas have showers but leave much to be desired. If you go on a weekend the line to get into the campground can become quite long. However all that said. They take good care of the sites and you can’t beat a spot at the lake for $30.

Very clean bathrooms and showers we were on the west side of the hill so no lake view 😪, but over quiet and kind of hot today

I stayed at Lake Pleasant for quite a while I’m December, I even spent my Christmas here. I preferred the dry camping in Desert Tortoise over the hookups & sites in Roadrunner. Roadrunner was lovely and families with big RVs and children seemed to enjoy it, but as a solo vanlifer, Desert Tortoise was more my pace. The burros are hilarious and LOUD. I had never heard anything like their braying. So funny. The lake is nice to walk down to, my pup enjoyed it.

Out in the sun with family fun. You never know what lies in the depths of this “lake” with goggles on it seems even scarier.

Stayed there for a weekend. It was beautiful and quiet and the donkeys kept us entertained

I'm a fan of more trees but obviously this is the desert so that's what you get.  Good location.

My husband and I have camped here occasionally for several years and we have always loved it, for the most part. Until fairly recently when it began to get more popular and crowded. People will tend to set up camp almost on top of your site and persist to blast music throughout the night or be extremely loud and even more so, extremely dirty. We have always looked forward to our quiet nights away from usual civilization and would stay awake to hear the coyotes howl, along with the rest of the wildlife. But it is getting extremely difficult to enjoy ourselves lately. I understand that some people like to go party there but why they assume the whole camping area and wildlife want to hear their blasting music all night... Is beyond disrespectful. Besides that, they messes, garbage, and filth they leave behind is horrendous. It makes my heart sad and I can only imagine how it is affecting nature and the campsite itself. If you go on weekdays, you have a better chance of having a peaceful getaway. Overall, it is beautiful and serene. We catch plenty of fish and enjoy some time on the lake with our boat. The marina is accessible to guests and is decently stocked with basic needs and supplies, as well as basic groceries. It's a shame that we are limited on places we can camp like true campers, because others can't appreciate the idea of truly "roughing it" or basic camping. We have built many good memories there and try to enjoy ourselves as much as we can. It is most beautiful in spring months.

Started off just getting to know the area, wanted to ensure I had a good footing before overwhelming myself. Each visit we explore a different recommendation from reviews or posts and it’s been amazing getting to explore.

Stayed in the Roadrunner Campground and loved it! Sites have a good amount of space between them and are kept very clean. We have two kids and enjoyed being so close to the playground. There are also several walking trails and a discovery center (open Friday/Saturday). Apparently there is also a restaurant at the marina and we heard it’s pretty good, although we never checked it out.

Biggest issue is the dump station is near the park entrance so a good 30 minutes round trip to dump with a tote. Also, I’m super upset even though we kept seeing evidence (poop) we didn’t see the wild burros!!! I did however see a bald eagle so that made up for it. 😁

Nice campground, near the water, clean restrooms, great hosts

We stayed in the roadrunner landside campground site 44 with our 30ft TT. Lake side looked nice but we couldn’t get a spot. Good size pad with a Ramada and water/electric hook ups. This place was packed for the entire week. But our site felt pretty private. They allow wood fires and provide a fire ring. The shower/bathrooms were clean. It’s about a 20minute drive to get supplies or groceries if you forgot something. They do sell firewood $7 and ice $3 at the park entrance.

Plenty to do on the lake, fishing, boating, hiking and biking trails. We even spotted the wild donkeys a few times which was pretty cool.

Good campground with full hook ups and bathrooms. Close to town still but far enough out makes it great.

There are many campgrounds on Lake Pleasant - we stayed at Roadrunner which is near the Discovery Center.

We went there for an afternoon hike on the Roadrunner Trail and ended up going back the next day to stay a night during our RV Xmas trip. We lucked out and they had one site left. Then we REALLY lucked out because the site was water-facing and absolutely wonderful!

We tried to have a fire but a few minutes in the (very kind) ranger came by and said that we couldn't have a fire because it was a holiday. Odd. Apparently that is a land law and the state is trying to cut down on air pollution and it's a blanket rule of no fires on holidays. Again... odd.

But we still went on a great little walk and wandered around and found a hike across the road through the desert - just watch out for jumping chola!!!! We even saw a jackrabbit! 

There's a dump station outside the campground area that is used by all the lake campgrounds, but there's two and it gets the job done. 

You can also pay a small fee and just go there to hike or just go there to dump. The rangers are all super nice!

North side of lake

An outstanding evening at Lake Pleasant - enjoying the relaxful evening.

Wanted a place not too far from home and Lake Pleasant is the perfect quick getaway. The camp sight had the most beautiful view at night and during the day. At night we were able to see so many constellations. Our camp site wasn’t a spot with a direct walk to the lake but the drive wasn’t long at all. Definitely bring a floatie or life jacket if you want to hang out in the lake. There is a little market by the marina that has water, ice, and snacks of sorts.

We stayed the first night I Roadrunner Campground site 9. Fairly level gravel with water and electricity. Dump station is nearby. Then we stayed Desert Tortoise Campground the next 2 nights because it was a walk to the lake. The site is EXTREMELY uneven so make sure you have some bricks for leveling. We didn't have enough with our 10 pack. We almost witnessed a trailer fall into the water of a big rock didn't stop it from rolling backwards!

The campsites are each set up that you have privacy and a view! Well thought out, clean, and hosts very helpful!  We stayed Thursday thru Sunday. Things picked up for the weekend and it was busy but no line at dump station on the way out and very quiet at night time. They have clean restrooms and showers which came in handy! 

We had visitors to the camp site at night tarantulas donkey skunks and raccoons.  So be prepared at your nightly shut down! I would highly recommend this campground and we will be back!!! The convenance of the lake and amenities it offers is a super bonus to the camping experience!

3 words....beautiful-beautiful-beautiful!!! We stayed in late September and had no neighbors next to us so we felt like we were in the desert. There was no direction that had a bad view. The water level was low so we had to drive out to the water. The lake was amazing. Huge cactuses next to our camper was awe inspiring. Water and electric hookups at most spots and the dump station is close by on your way out.

You really can’t miss with Maricopa County Parks. The landscape and appeal of Lake Pleasant is quite a bit different from places like McDowell Mountain, Usery, and Cave Creek. It may seem strange to say we were fortunate to be at Lake Pleasant in inclement weather but it brought out insane levels of dramatic beauty looking out over the saguaros. We were only able to score two nights there but boy howdy we got a show. 

The sites at Pleasant Lake are a bit more difficult to manage than other Maricopa parks. The terrain is more challenging in terms of slope and they are not as spatially generous, also because of slopes. Still totally worth it but you’ll have to work harder to get into your site. We had to hastily block the road while we dropped the toy hauler ramp to unload the sidecar before we could back in properly. We were fortunate in that no one came by in the time we feverishly did that, sensitive to not messing up others’ experiences and creating a roadblock, even for a few minutes. 

Because it’s tight, we had to summon our best marshalling skills to back in and not tag the palapa at the site. But once in, the site was very level and no more work was needed to get settled. Cue up happy hour! 

Sites are paved and restroom/bath facilities are in line with all of Maricopa parks. Which means, well-maintained and very agreeable. But because Maricopa parks are well-deservedly popular, book hella in advanced for peak season. They’re popular for a reason. Note for those who carry“toys”: on the way out we made use of a larger, group parking area to load the sidecar. Depending on your site, you may want to consider unloading your tow-in/hauled vehicle at a larger parking area before getting to your campsite. Next time(now that we know the site challenges), we certainly will.

This is the place to do it. Beautiful lake and even better desert scenery. The RoadRunner campsite has water and electrical hooks ups (no sewer) and each spot is adequately spaced so you don’t feel crowded. Two dump stations conveniently places (with water!!) to make leaving a breeze. Make a reservation for when the weather gets nice (Late October to mid May).

20 minutes north of Phoenix and close shopping, restaurants, and Scorpion Bay (the best restaurant on water!!)

Great fishing incredible views, clean restrooms a great barbecue restaurant. Dillon's BBQ

Awesome in spring or fall in a tent! Moonless night.