Where is Patagonia Lake State Park – and why should you visit? Patagonia Lake is in southern Arizona, approximately 30 minutes north of the town of Nogales on the U.S/Mexico border. This high desert oasis offers everything from camping and boating, to hiking and birdwatching. Join us for a few outdoor adventures… lakeside!
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Where is Patagonia Lake State Park?
Whaaaaat?
Water in the high desert a mere ½ hour away from the US/Mexico border at Nogales and just over an hour west of Tombstone?
Yup.
Patagonia Lake State Park (est. 1975) is a 265-acre reservoir formed by damming up Sonoita Creek, southwest of the town of Patagonia in southern Arizona. Another 5,000 acres of wilderness known as the Sonoita Creek State Natural Area (est. 1994). Further acquisitions over the next six years eventually connected the park and natural area together.
Acres of wilderness plus a creek and a lake mean there’s plenty to see and do in this Arizona state park!
Park Adventures
- Camp in your own RV (or tent or rent a cabin)
- Picnic at one of the scenic tables spaced out along the lakeshore
- Paddle a canoe or kayak or take to the water on a SUP (or rent a powerboat and head out fishing)
- Take a hike
- Pull out the binos and spot a few birds
- Watch for watchable wildlife
Spend the Day or Camp
Judging from the number of picnic tables spread out along the lakeshore, Patagonia Lake State Park is a popular day trip and picnicking location. It was a little too chilly in early spring for us sit out for a picnic (or take a dip in the lake itself!), but the option on warmer days is appealing.
We set up our truck and trailer in one of the park’s # campsites and took a short stroll around the campground. Following the movement of the birds we quickly located the feeding/observation areas.
Taking an upper road, we walked by the rental cabins – available for groups without their own RVs or tents. We wandered down past the gift shop/snack store and across the high arched bridge between the Visitor Center (closed at 4 pm) and the picnic area, before heading back to our cozy camp in fading daylight.
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Outdoor Adventures
Outdoor adventures abound at Patagonia Lake. Bird and wildlife watching is one of the primary reasons many RV snowbirds flock to the area in springtime. We stopped off to quickly pick up a bird checklist at the Visitor Center – and spent the next 15 minutes checking out the 3D model of the natural area, the lists of recently seen birds, the requisite reptiles in glass cages and the library of reference books.
Where to Go Birding in Patagonia Lake
The best place to start watching birds at Patagonia Lake is right outside the Visitor Center. A few feeders hung in a landscaped garden area draw in hungry birds. Benches offer good places for birders to settle in to watch the action.
Tip: If you’re not a birder and don’t have a bird identification field guide, be sure to grab a copy of the Common Birds of Patagonia Lake State Park pamphlet from the Visitor Center. This brochure has photos and names of 70 common birds seen overhead, on the lake, at the campground and feeder, and – oddly enough – a separate grouping of hummingbirds and woodpeckers!
I guess whoever made the pamphlet figured everyone can identify the difference between woodpeckers, hummingbirds, and the vast array of the rest of the 290+ species of birds seen in the park over the course of a year. More avid birders will want to pick up the full Patagonia Lake State Park Bird List and check out the recent bird sighting list posted outside the Visitor Center entrance.
At the other end of the campground is the other bird feeding station with raised concrete benches for viewing. This is also the starting place for the Guided Bird Walk, held very Friday (check for times and sign up at the Visitor Centre).
Walking for Birds
Joining local town of Patagonia residents and volunteers Cathy and John, myself and about 15 other campers flocked for the 9:00 a.m. guided. We were all hoping to glean a little knowledge from the pair’s collective birding wisdom.
We started just watching the action at the feeders – cardinals, female blackbirds, lesser goldfinch, ladder-backed woodpecker (on the suet feeder), broad-billed hummingbird (on the hummingbird feeder). A cotton rat scrounged around for seeds on the ground.
After 15 minutes or so, Cathy and John introduced themselves. A few words of advice were given before the informal stroll through the woods along Sonoita Creek.
“Let the birds have the wings,” Cathy says.
In other words, when holding your binoculars, keep your arms down. It’s less tiring that way. Also, use a wide stance with knees slightly bent. Bird locations are described using the face of a clock, e.g. American robin – of which there were a few sightings, rare for this area – at 2 o’clock.
Love birding – or want to start? Check out our Simple Snowbird Guide to Birding | Arizona!
The large group ambled off down the trail, Cathy in the lead, John in sweep. Quite quickly the group split into two. John’s spotting scope was a draw for the back half of the group. The highlight for me was the Vermilion Flycatcher – a beauty and it knows it!
In all I checked off close to 40 species on my copy of the Patagonia Lake State Park Bird List. Not a bad way to spend a morning at all.
Boating for Birds on Patagonia Lake
Take to the water to discover even more birdlife on the lake itself. There is a kayak launch site as well as a boat ramp off the campground for lake access. We put our inflatable double kayak in at the boat launch. Paddle up along the shoreline into the little bay past the picnic area, we chuckled at the antics of the coots along the way.
It was a short paddle past the tall cottonwood tree island where Great Blue Herons have started a colony. We watched and took pics from a distance so as not to disturb naptime.
Across the lake we spotted the first of several boat-in campsites. The picnic table in the sunshine was perfect for a snack break. Extra bonus? Cell phone coverage which we couldn’t get in our campsite.
From here we followed an angler fishing the shoreline with his foot drive bass boat before we deked off for another hidden bay around the corner. Double-crested Cormorants perched on everything from logs in the water to the buoys around the floating outhouses – meant for the boat-in campers and anglers on the lake.
Deeper in the bay, Common mergansers flew by overhead in a hurry. Bufflehead, Northern Shoveler and Green-winged Teal mingled close to the shoreline. Pied-billed Grebes dove and surfaced again and again in search of food.
Take a Boat Tour
Don’t have your own boat? No worries, you can rent boats from the concessionaire in the cove by the arched bridge. You can also sign up for the Discovery/Bird Watching Boat Tours offered by Patagonia Lake State Park. These adventures run twice daily (9:00 and 10:15 a.m.), with an additional third tour (11:30 a.m.) on Saturdays and Sundays.
Where to Go Hiking
Wandering Sonoita Creek and surrounding hills is a fun way to spend a day. You can easily combine the 1.4-mile long (2.3 km) Blackhawk Trail with the 1.5-mile long (2.4 km) Sonoita Creek Trail for a nice little loop.
Longer options along Coal Mine Spring, Cat Cave and the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad Trails are not maintained, and hikers travel at their own risk. Be sure to pick up a copy of the Sonoita Creek Natural Area pamphlet and map from the Visitor Centre for more details.
The best part about hiking along the creek is the opportunity to observe wildlife. White-tail deer about in the sheltered creek valley. Our biggest surprise was coming across a troop of coati!
Normally found higher in the mountains, they occasionally follow the creek down out of the mountains. These brownish mammals – weighing up to 25 lbs (11 kg) – look like a cross between a racoon and a monkey. Kind of. They have long, whitish noses and are as comfortable scrambling around hillsides flipping rocks for food as they are spending the night in trees.
The troops of over 20 we watched wandered the hillside. Long, lightly striped tails are held erect, like flags, to let the rest of group know locations. Cool, really cool critters – and the first time for us seeing them in the United States (we’ve seen them in Costa Rica in the past).
That’s the joy of hiking – you just never know what adventure will present itself! Patagonia Lake State Park and environs definitely struck a chord with this incredible sighting.
So, where is Patagonia Lake State Park (and what else do you need to know)?
It’s about two miles (3.2 km) off Highway 82 between Patagonia and Nogales in southern Arizona and it’s a place you need to visit!
For more information about camping, hiking, boating, etc., visit the Arizona State Parks webpage.
You might also like to take a drive (less than 40 minutes) to explore Empire Ranch – an historic site in Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.
Hi Megan and Brad,
Lots of fantastic photos and info. Looks like you guys are still having a great time. Weather looks great too! Did you also take the boat ride?
Angie
Thanks Angie – and no, we didn’t take the boat ride as we had our own kayak to explore the lake and look for birds!