Where to Swimrun in Arizona

Looking for safe and fun place to swimrun in Arizona? Check out our Swimrun Guide from swimrunners around the globe on their favorite spots.

Swimrun in Tucson

Finding good open water swimming is a bit of a challenge in the middle of the Sonoran Desert...who would have thought? There are a few opportunities in Arizona, but around Tucson, it’s a bit sparse. The two lakes that do offer reasonable swimming are both a little drive to the south, in the Coronado National Forest, Patagonia Lake and Parker Canyon Lake, both manmade lakes with Patagonia being significantly larger. With that said, it’s not close as to which one is the go-to for SwimRun, it’s hands down Parker Canyon Lake. The big advantages are: 

• a nice, moderately technical trail around the perimeter of the lake (4.5 to 5 miles depending on turnoffs/extra mileage)

• Boats are limited to 10 horsepower

• Clean water

• About 1000 ft higher elevation (which means much cooler).

On that last point, it is typical to expect ambient temperatures around 20 degrees cooler than Tucson, making it even manageable in the middle of Arizona summers (well, that’s relative, but at least it rarely hits triple digits here). The lake itself is at 5400 ft of elevation, so nothing crazy there.

For info on the lake, check out the website http://www.parkercanyonlake.com/ - note that there is a $8 day use fee.

To get there, the easiest way is to head down US 83 to Sonoita and keep going south from there (it does get a bit winding and narrow). It’s about a 90 minute drive from Tucson, but it’s quite worth it. As you gain altitude, the grassy hills give way to mesquite bushes, which means you do get some reasonable shade, a true rarity and much appreciated!

Parker Canyon Lake from the South.

GPS track of a recent SwimRun day at Parker Canyon

As for the lay of the land, the perimeter trail around the lake is anywhere from 4.5 to 5 miles. The range is there because at times, it is a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure type situation with multiple branching off points that all end up in the same spot, just at slightly different distances. There are also a few paved roads throughout the park that can be ran, for example from the Marina to Lakeview Campground, although I haven’t explored that option yet. A bit of GPS sleuthing also shows some potentially interesting dirt roads to explore. The Arizona Trail also is quite close by, just to the south, and is very well maintained - just have to figure out the best way to connect it in! The perimeter trail is quite rocky, most people would classify it as relatively technical. Some minor undulations to it, the total elevation gain for a lap around the lake is right around 300 feet.

On the swimming side of things, entry points are a bit limited due to seaweed along the majority of the shoreline. Depending on water levels, it can be quite pesky! The most obvious entry point is right at the marina. There is a boat ramp in the south east corner of the lake along with a dock, so most swimmers just jump in there and swim out and back. Straight across to the west (sighting off the rock dam) is right at about half a mile, and turning north from there can add up to another 1200 yards - meaning that up to a two mile swim as an out and back from the ramp is quite doable, or even more if you explore some of the other coves. Of course, just swimming out and back and running around the lake wouldn’t be all that exciting, so I scoped out additional exit and entry points. General rule of thumb is that the best spots are near cliffs. You can see the ones I used on the GPS track above, but here’s a brief description:

• At 1.75 miles going counterclockwise (or 2.75 miles clockwise), there are some cliffs around which the seaweed is not bad at all. Actually, if you pick the right angle, you don’t hit any! It’s about a 20 foot scramble off the main trail to get down to it, but it’s pretty obvious. On the map above, that is the northernmost swim entry point.

• At 1.5 miles counterclockwise (3 miles clockwise), on the west side of the cove, is another set of cliffs that have a channel without seaweed. I used that as a good swim exit point. This is really the only accessible point in this cove. Note: If you do the cove-to-cove swim I did here, make sure to go relatively wide around the point between the coves, as the seaweed is quite thick in this area.

• My last swim entry point of the day was at about 0.7 miles counterclockwise, there is a beach that usually has quite a few people fishing on it. It looked like there wasn’t a ton of seaweed, and in fact, a few strokes and I was through it. I would NOT recommend it though, because it was very thick and I did get reasonably tangled up in it...a little scary!

Putting it all together, I did a total of 8.5 miles; 7 miles running/1.5 miles swimming broken up as follows:

Run 1: One full lap around the lake (4.5 mi)

Swim 1: Out and back from the boat ramp (1200 yds)

Run 2: Counterclockwise to cliff entrance point (1.75 miles)

Swim 2: Cove-to-Cove swim around the horn (730 yds)

Run 3: Clockwise run back towards marina (0.85 miles)

Swim 3: Spontaneous decision to jump in at the beach, swim to boat ramp (500 yds)

Run 4: Back up to the parking lot/car (0.25 miles)

Conditions on October 25th: Air temp (mid day) ~74 F, water ~68 F.