Between Joshua Tree National Park And Sedona Is Arizona's Lake State Park Renowned For Fishing And Mountain Views

It's one long drive from California's Joshua Tree National Park to the New Age desert outpost of Sedona in Arizona. U.S. 60 routes you through quintessential Sonoran backcountry almost the whole way, whizzing past nut farms and eerie mining frontier towns from yesteryear. It also brings you close to the remote Alamo Lake State Park, a place where you can pull up to enjoy a breather in the form of big mountain views, shimmering lake waters, and relaxing fishing sessions.

Roughly 3.5 hours from both Joshua Tree and Sedona, the largely off-radar park sprawls across 4,900 acres of land. It's mainly famous for its fishing — the spot has been called one of the best places to catch largemouth bass in the whole Grand Canyon State, no less! But it's also a place to enjoy rugged desert scenery, whether that means hitting the hiking paths, lazing on a boat on the water, or rumbling around the lakeshore on the ATV tracks.

There's only one asphalt roadway leading to and from the park. It diverts straight off Highway 60 at the town of Wenden, and takes around 40 minutes to get you to the reserve. There's also an unpaved, unmetalled desert dirt track that connects the park directly with U.S. 93. Meanwhile, the nearest major airport is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, which sits down Interstate 10 around a 2.5-hour drive to the southeast.

Stunning, high-desert landscapes begin to dominate the horizon even as you drive up to Alamo Lake State Park. First, you'll cross beneath the chaparral-covered crest of the Harcuvar Mountains. Then you'll see the Buckskin Mountains crumpling up to the west, hiding canyons and stands of cottonwoods. The whole place evokes the feel of a vintage Western flick, what with twisted cacti rising in the foreground and the plains rolling out to meet the red-tinged peaks far away in the distance.

The majority of the camping pitches, boat ramps, and overlooks are near Alamo Road on the southwestern side of the reserve. A trio of short hiking trails also begins and ends down in that corner of the park, with one — the easy, 0.2-mile-long Rattlesnake Overlook Trail — clambering up a bluff to offer sweeping views of the lake and the raw desert backdrop in all its mountainous glory.

Because it's located in the same remote corner of the southwest as the Joshua Tree National Park, which is surely among the best national parks in America for stargazing, Alamo Lake is also a fine place to gaze up at the cosmos once the sun dips away. Indeed, one past visitor calls it one of the "best dark sky spots for stargazing in the Sonoran Desert" on Tripadvisor, and the site even enjoys a Bortle Class 2 rating, which is the second-best dark-sky rating of all, one shared by many of the very best American stargazing locations. Meteor showers and nebula watching over the silhouette of the Sonoran peaks, anyone?

Alamo Lake State Park is known as one of the prime fishing spots in the whole Grand Canyon State. However, it's rarely uber-busy. The reason? It gets noticeably less attention from the rod-slinging crowd and boaters than other spots in the region, such as ever-popular Lake Havasu, or the breathtaking desert lake, Lake Mohave, both of which string along the Arizona-California border a little to the northwest.

Bass and crappie take center stage on this particular dash of Arizonan water. According to Arizona State Parks and Trails, the official website of the AZ state parks system, the lake supports healthy populations of both. It also notes that the bass get particularly active during the spring, when you can fish from shoreline spots or from a boat while surrounded by a sea of eye-catching desert wildflower blooms. Spring is high time for crappie to boot, with key locations to find them clustered around the Cholla Boat Ramp on the northeast side of the state park.

Remember that anyone over the age of 10 planning on fishing at Alamo Lake will need an official AZ fishing license. You can buy them at the on-site camp store, which also stocks bait and various boating supplies. Some areas of the lake, notably those immediately above the dam, are closed to all fishing activities.