Horsethief Basin Lake
Yavapai County, Arizona5 acresView mapDirections
No nutrient or algae sampling on record from ADEQ for this lake.
- Limited data
Horsethief Basin Lake in Yavapai County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 5 acres.
Horsethief Basin Lake is a 5-acre lake in Yavapai County, Arizona.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, ADEQ, last sampled 2026-03-30. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
Horsethief Basin Lake covers about 5 acres in Yavapai County. If you are planning to stay, you can search lake houses and cabins around Horsethief Basin Lake on Vrbo, or look for a hotel room near the lake on Booking.com or Expedia.
What Horsethief Basin Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Camping3 public campgrounds nearby
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Horsethief Basin Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Horsethief Basin Lake
These are the measurements ADEQ publishes for Horsethief Basin Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
No clarity data.
Ask about Horsethief Basin Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Surface area
5 acres
No bathymetric survey has been published for Horsethief Basin Lake, so its depth is not documented here.
Recreation & Access
Public campgrounds near Horsethief Basin Lake
- Horsethief Cabin0.6 kmReserve
- Hazlett Hollow Campground1.6 km
- Turney Gulch Group Campground1.7 km
Nearest public campgrounds in the USGS National Map inventory, within about 3 miles. An empty list means USGS records no campground that close, which is not the same as camping being unavailable. Where the source gives an official reservation link, it is used; the cabin and hotel search does not cover campsites. More camping lakes
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Stays near Horsethief Basin Lake
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Top-rated places to stay near Horsethief Basin Lake
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Fishing Horsethief Basin Lake
Reservoir Info (USACE NID)
Horsethief Basin Lake is a man-made reservoir impounded by the Horsethief (completed 1934), built primarily for recreation on the Horsethief Canyon; masonry-type dam, 38 ft tall and 205 ft long.
- Surface area
- 5 ac
- Normal storage
- 64 ac-ft
- Max storage
- 64 ac-ft
- Drainage area
- 2 sq mi
- Hazard class
- High
- Owner
- USDA FS
All listed purposes: Recreation;Fish and Wildlife Pond.
Source: USACE National Inventory of Dams, NID ID AZ10142 · Operator website · Matched by proximity (0.02 km)
Nearby Lakes in Yavapai County
Frequently asked questions about Horsethief Basin Lake
Where is Horsethief Basin Lake?
- Horsethief Basin Lake is a lake in Yavapai County, Arizona. Its water-quality measurements are published by ADEQ and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Horsethief Basin Lake?
- Horsethief Basin Lake in Yavapai County, Arizona has water-quality measurements published by ADEQ, shown here as reported. Surface area: 5 acres.
Is Horsethief Basin Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Are there campgrounds on Horsethief Basin Lake?
- Horsethief Basin Lake has 3 public campgrounds from USGS The National Map within 5 km, including Horsethief Cabin, Hazlett Hollow Campground, Turney Gulch Group Campground. This is a location join, not a booking. Cabins and hotels are listed separately; campsite reservations use the official link when the source provides one.
Explore Horsethief Basin Lake across LakeQuality
2 thermal springs within 17.1 mi, nearest Castle Hot Springs
Species activity outlook by water temperature and season
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Where this data comes from
8 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2025–2026. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-02.
Collected and reported by
- Great Lakes Environmental Center
GLEC8 samples · 2025–2026
Analytical methods
- 4500 P E ~ Phosphorus in Water by Colorimetry- Ascorbic Acid Method
- 300.0 ~ EPA; Determination of Inorganic Anions by Ion Chromatography
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Public campgrounds from USGS The National Map Structures, within about 3 miles