Lake Pleasant Regional Park, Regional park with artificial lake near Phoenix, US

Lake Pleasant Regional Park is a nature reserve with an artificial lake northwest of Phoenix in Arizona. The water surface is surrounded by dry hills and cactus fields, crossed by shore paths and boat ramps.

The Carl Pleasant Dam, finished in 1927, created the original reservoir on the Agua Fria River; at 76 ft high and 2,160 ft long, it was then the largest multi-arch dam in the world and the largest agricultural dam project. The lake began as a private irrigation project with a surface of 3,700 acres. From 1973 the Central Arizona Project aqueduct brought Colorado River water, and the New Waddell Dam, completed in 1994, tripled the lake's surface, submerging the old dam.

Petroglyphs along the shore date back to times when different groups moved through this region and stopped at the water. Hikers today sometimes come across these carvings, showing that people lived here long before the reservoir existed.

The entrance sits on Route 74, with signs pointing the way to campgrounds and ramps. Paths to the water are mostly flat, and on hot days visitors need plenty of drinking water.

Ospreys and bald eagles return each year to the same nests along the shore. Some of these nests have stood in old trees for decades and are easily seen from the water.