regulations

So you have your first board and paddle and you’re ready to jump in the water. Did you know that you need a permit in order to paddle in Arizona lakes?

Wondering if you need anything else?

You do NOT need to register your stand up paddleboard. You can see at the Arizona Game and Fish Department website that there is only call for registration when a watercraft is motorized. I verified this with a call to the AZGFD. You can also see this at the Boater’s Guide site by Boat Ed, the official provider of Arizona’s boating safety course (developed in conjunction with Arizona Game and Fish). Non-motorized vessels are specifically excepted.

What you do need though, is a permit.

And depending on where you paddle, you will need different permits.

Tempe Town Lake

If you are going to paddle at Tempe Town Lake, you need a specific permit for that lake. Permits are good for a year and are $50 annually per watercraft. If you are a Tempe resident, the cost is discounted to $25 annually per watercraft. Daily permits are also available for $10 per day (Tempe resident or not).

You can purchase your permit at:

Recreation Administration Office
2nd Floor, Tempe Public Library
3500 S. Rural Rd., Tempe AZ 85282
(480) 350-5200
Monday-Friday 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Pyle Adult Recreation Center
655 E. Southern Ave., Tempe AZ 85282
(480) 350-5211
Monday-Thursday 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Friday 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

I went to the Tempe Public Library. If you’re going to head there, as soon as you step in the door, head for the elevator on the left and take it to the 2nd floor. Once you get out, head toward your right and you’ll see the office with the glass wall on the lobby.

A tip is that permits are done by month. So if it’s nearing the end of the month and you can wait a few days, try to wait until the 1st of the next month so your permit will be valid for that much longer.

Other Arizona Lakes

If you’re looking to paddle other lakes in Arizona, you’re likely to need a Tonto Pass.

The Tonto Pass is a daily use pass. There are 2 components to a Tonto Pass. There is the pass itself and then there are water craft use stickers. You do NOT need a water craft use sticker to stand up paddle. They are again only needed for motorized watercraft.

Tonto daily passes are $6. You need to scratch off the date and time you are using it for and then they are good for a 24 hour period. A Tonto Pass is needed for each car parking at the lake.

Tonto Passes are required for:

Saguaro Lake
Canyon Lake
Bartlett Lake
Apache Lake
Roosevelt Lake

Passes are valid at the recreation areas, NOT the marinas. See detailed info on valid Tonto Pass locations.

You can buy Tonto Passes ahead of time at a variety of locations. You can buy them:

At the Tonto National Forest supervisor/ranger offices.
At retail outlets around Arizona.
Online.
By phone or mail.

Lake Pleasant

If you’re heading to Lake Pleasant, they do things a bit different there. They charge a fee for entry. It is $6 per vehicle or $2 per person in a van or a bus.

Nothing to be done ahead of time here. Just pay as you enter.

Paddling at Night

I tend to paddle a bunch at night. I usually work late so getting up super early is rough. Then I work until the day is done, go home & eat dinner with my family. After the kids are down, a couple times a week, I’ll load up and head out to the lake for a workout.

So far, I’ve just paddled at night at Tempe Town Lake. I don’t really see that changing so some of my comments are specific to TTL.

Paddling at night is very, very cool. It’s beautiful out there with all the lights reflecting off the water. There is a bunch of ambient light so it’s easy to see what you need to. Then it’s also dark enough to make it seem like a completely different experience. Obviously there is no sun beating down on you so that is great. It also always seems extra calm. Talking with one of the rangers, I hear that it’s typically quite calm (no wind) in the evenings. That results in a glassy surface which is lovely to paddle on.

If you are going to paddle Tempe Town Lake, it is open for boaters from 5 am – 10 pm so make sure you’re off the water by 10.

Night Lights

As far as details, if you’re going to paddle after sunset, you need a light by law. For paddling SUP, you just need an all direction white light.

There are a few different types of lights. We’ve settled on an elevated light that attaches to the stand up paddle board in a couple different ways. We actually use 1 of 2 different types depending on the board we are paddling.

For my standard epoxy fiberglass board (a SUP ATX lake rider LR model), I use the Paddlers Supply Company LED Kayak Deck Light with Suction Cup Base from REI. It’s about $40. It has a very strong suction cup that sticks to the fiberglass surface. No worries that it will fall off. It’s super easy to put on and super stable. Then it has the clip that I attach to the leash cord just in case anything were to happen.

No issues with this. Quick on and off. Bright light. Doesn’t get in the way of paddling at all.

Now when you have one of the comfort top boards where the padding stretches the full length of the board, the suction cup option isn’t going to work.

For our SUP ATX comfort top HR board, we use the Kayalite® Deck, Anchor and Stern Light. It’s also $40. The light itself is pretty much exactly the same as the other model.

The way this light varies is in the attachment mechanism. Since there is no open fiberglass to stick a light to the board, I clip it to the leash anchor point.

I can’t actually get the clip around the bar so I’ve attached a thick zip tie with just a little slack. You cannot attach it directly to the leash cord either as there would be too much slack when attached. So I attach the clip to my zip tie and then I pull the other end of the bungee to eliminate slack and tie it off on the light.

This again works wonderfully.

Tempe Town Lake Night Paddling Tips

If we’re out with friends, we still go out to Boat Beach as I like the feel down there. I like being with the bridges. If you have people that are waiting on the bank, it’s a bit nicer there in the evening than the Marina.

If I’m by myself or 1 other person and basically doing a workout paddle, I go to the Marina. You can drive right up and drop your board and equipment steps away from the water. I drop my stuff on the grass right near the boat ramp. Then it’s easy to park very, very close.

I typically either head west toward the lighted bridges or on occasion will go east toward the other bridges. If you go west toward the lighted bridge, rounding a pylon and heading back to the boat ramp will give you a workout of about 1.1 miles.

Then getting out at the Marina is a breeze. Just walk your board up off the boat ramp to the grassy spot grab your car, strap your board on and you are ready to go.

One other bonus of paddling from the Marina at night is that you don’t have to deal with any sand which is nice.

Another random tip: I now don’t worry about stashing my flip flops anymore. I just chuck them on the front of the board pad and they don’t even move over the course of a workout.