Lake Havasu State Park

Lake Havasu State Park is the city's main public shoreline, a strip of beaches and campgrounds on the eastern side of the lake a couple of miles north of London Bridge. Arizona State Parks lists three boat ramps, 54 campsites, 13 beachside cabins, a picnic area, a beach and a special events area. Concessionaires rent canoes and kayaks with safety equipment, and the park calls itself a port of entry to the Colorado River for boaters.

The park has a long and complicated history of land deals. The Bureau of Reclamation leased the shoreline to the state in 1965, and the original park covered much of the east shore, including Pittsburgh Point before the London Bridge channel turned it into an island. In 1986 a land exchange, part of the federal government's compensation to the state for land taken for the Central Arizona Project canal, moved Pittsburgh Point and other sections out of the park. In 1987 the southern unit became the separate Cattail Cove State Park, 15 miles south. Today the park centres on the Windsor Beach unit, with its headquarters in the multi-agency Water Safety Center at Contact Point since 1993, and covers about 928 acres.

There is a large designated swimming area at the day-use beach, and swimming is allowed along the shoreline too. The park warns that the soft sand gives way to rocky footing in the water, so bring water shoes, and that the lake can be warm in the shallows but near freezing in open water. There are no lifeguards. Do not swim near the boat ramps or docks, and fires are banned on every beach.

On land, the Mohave Sunset Trail runs 1.75 miles through low desert and along the shore. It is rated easy, open to walkers only, with leashed pets allowed. The Arroyo-Camino Interpretive Garden shows the plants of this part of the desert, and birds, lizards and desert cottontails are common.

The park's own history page describes two crowds: winter visitors from colder parts of the country, and in summer a younger, boating crowd mostly from southern California and Arizona. The events calendar fills up in the cooler months. Check the park's events page for the current list.