Dam Good Run at Lake Pleasant

On Sunday, April 12, 2026, Lake Pleasant Regional Park in Morristown, Arizona, serves as the stage for the Dam Good Run, an annual trail race whose name earns its pun with uncommon geological legitimacy: every distance in the race crosses the New Waddell Dam, a 397-foot roller-compacted concrete structure completed in 1994 that impounds the Agua Fria River and the Central Arizona Project canal inflows that fill Lake Pleasant to its current 10,000-acre extent. Race distances span from a 2-mile fun run to a 40K ultra, structured to provide an appropriate challenge for everyone from children on their first trail to experienced desert ultra runners who want the specific physical character of 18.84 miles of Sonoran Desert trail with significant elevation variation, lake vistas, and the possibility of a wild burro encounter somewhere along the course.

The Course and What It Crosses

The Dam crossing is not incidental to the course. The New Waddell Dam’s crest provides a mile-long elevated traverse above the Agua Fria River canyon with views east toward the Hieroglyphic Mountains and west across the reservoir’s open water that no trail segment elsewhere in the park matches for combined scale and drama. The trails beyond the dam traverse desert terrain whose Saguaro cactus density, native brittlebush bloom in April, and volcanic rock surface produce the specific sensory character of a Sonoran spring desert run at its most concentrated. The 6:30 AM start captures the morning light before the desert heat builds, and the 14-hour window to the close accommodates the full 40K field at a pace that respects the challenge the longer distances represent at this elevation and in this terrain.

If You’re Going With Kids: The 2-mile fun run is structured for family participation at any combination of running and walking pace, and the dam crossing on even the shortest course gives children the experience of a genuine engineering landmark that most urban 5K courses cannot provide. After the race, Lake Pleasant’s swimming area provides the post-run water immersion that desert April temperatures make genuinely appealing by mid-morning, rounding a race day into a complete family outing without requiring a second destination.

Lake Pleasant and the Agua Fria River Corridor

Lake Pleasant Regional Park, managed by Maricopa County Parks and Recreation, covers 23,000 acres around the reservoir in the Hieroglyphic Mountains north of Peoria and Phoenix, making it the largest regional park in the Maricopa County system. The park’s Desert Tortoise Trail and Roadrunner Trail systems provide additional hiking access beyond the race course for families extending the visit beyond the event. The Central Arizona Project, whose canal feeds the lake, is the largest water conveyance system in the United States by construction cost and engineering scope, and the visitor centre at the dam provides interpretive access to both the dam’s engineering and the broader water management context that keeps Phoenix’s metropolitan population of 5 million people supplied with Colorado River water across the Sonoran Desert. Lake.com lists vacation rental options across the greater Phoenix and Lake Pleasant north corridor for visitors building a multi-day Sonoran spring desert stay around the race.