We got back to WA yesterday but I wanted to share some of the pics of a boat trip we took last Sunday to Lake Pleasant, AZ. The lake is about 27 miles from our condo and it's a short 30 minute tow to the lake.
The lake was created when they dammed the Aqua Fria River. It's about 5 miles N-S and about 2 miles across in most areas.
The NE corner of the lake is an eagle nesting area and is closed to boating from IIRC mid-December to the end of June. We explored that area last October when we first went to AZ and there are some very pretty canyons up that way.
It was a near perfect day--temps in the mid 80's, no wind, a very few thin clouds and not a lot of boats on the water.
Here's what the lake looks like...
Here are some pics, not in any certain order, of what the scenery looks like...
This guy gave us a fly-by as we went up the lake.
We found a narrow draw that looked interesting so we poked out way up into it.
This was about as far as we could go--the boat was touching both sides.
As narrow as it was, we still had 10' of water beneath the boat.
There are a lot of areas where people drive to the lake and pitch a tent for the weekend, so some fishing, play in the water and just have fun. Well, as much fun as you can have if you don't own a boat. Poor souls.
We pulled ashore at one point to get out and explore. Here's a shot of GW and Sunny Beach. Sunny Beach is a 1981 13'Sport model Boston Whaler with a 40hp Evinrude 2-stroke on the back. With two of us and a full tank (12 gals) of gas she cruises real nice at about 22-24mph. Perfect for a small lake like this one. She's easy to launch an recover, tucks nicely into the garage and is just a lot of fun to run around in.
After spending a few hours exploring that remote area of the lake we cruised back down to the SE corner where the marina is. There's a great floating restaurant there where we split an order of nachos and had a cold adult beverage. Then we hopped back in the boat and went back to the launch ramp.
A good day on the water was had by all.
The lake was created when they dammed the Aqua Fria River. It's about 5 miles N-S and about 2 miles across in most areas.
The NE corner of the lake is an eagle nesting area and is closed to boating from IIRC mid-December to the end of June. We explored that area last October when we first went to AZ and there are some very pretty canyons up that way.
It was a near perfect day--temps in the mid 80's, no wind, a very few thin clouds and not a lot of boats on the water.
Here's what the lake looks like...
Here are some pics, not in any certain order, of what the scenery looks like...
This guy gave us a fly-by as we went up the lake.
We found a narrow draw that looked interesting so we poked out way up into it.
This was about as far as we could go--the boat was touching both sides.
As narrow as it was, we still had 10' of water beneath the boat.
There are a lot of areas where people drive to the lake and pitch a tent for the weekend, so some fishing, play in the water and just have fun. Well, as much fun as you can have if you don't own a boat. Poor souls.
We pulled ashore at one point to get out and explore. Here's a shot of GW and Sunny Beach. Sunny Beach is a 1981 13'Sport model Boston Whaler with a 40hp Evinrude 2-stroke on the back. With two of us and a full tank (12 gals) of gas she cruises real nice at about 22-24mph. Perfect for a small lake like this one. She's easy to launch an recover, tucks nicely into the garage and is just a lot of fun to run around in.
After spending a few hours exploring that remote area of the lake we cruised back down to the SE corner where the marina is. There's a great floating restaurant there where we split an order of nachos and had a cold adult beverage. Then we hopped back in the boat and went back to the launch ramp.
A good day on the water was had by all.