| Address | Concho, AZ 85924 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34.4429, -109.6294 |
| Category | Waterfront |
| Nearest city | St. Johns |
| Region | Arizona, USA |
| Sources | geonames |
Concho Lake Travel Guide
Concho Lake is a lake in Arizona. The nearest service base is St. Johns, roughly 24 km away.
Concho Lake at a Glance
- What it is: lake (travel destination)
- Where it is: Concho, AZ 85924 — coordinates 34.4429, 109.6294
- Why it is listed: a source-verified entry in the CollabsTravel master database, matched against official gazetteer and geographic records before publication
- Time needed: a couple of hours
- Best season: May to September
Quick Facts
| Place type | Lake |
| Also good for | Waterfront |
| Region / state | Arizona |
| Postal address | Concho, AZ 85924 |
| Nearest city | St. Johns |
| Coordinates | 34.4429, -109.6294 |
| Nearest base town | St. Johns (24 km) |
Why Concho Lake Is Worth Visiting
Concho Lake earns its place in this guide for a simple reason: it is a verified destination in Arizona,. Its position 24 km from St. Johns also makes it an easy add-on rather than a detour that costs half a day. Visitors book it for waterfront as much as for destination. And unlike listicle recommendations, everything on this page - coordinates, category, sources - was checked against official records before publication.
About Concho Lake
In plain terms, Concho Lake is a lake in the Arizona area of Arizona that travellers book around destination trips. Beyond its main draw, the record tags it for waterfront too, so it rewards more than one kind of visit. Functionally it belongs to St. Johns - the town most maps and locals will reference when describing how to reach it. Everything stated on this page comes from that verified record; where background history is quoted, the source is named at the end of the section.
The Story of Concho Lake: History & Background
Concho Lake is an irrigation reservoir situated in the town of Concho, in the eastern Arizona grasslands at 6,300 feet (1,900 m). Much of the surrounding land is privately owned; the rest is owned by the Bureau of Land Management, but is managed for sport fisheries and wildlife resources by the Arizona Game and Fish.
Lead passage from the Wikipedia article "Concho Lake", reused under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a coordinate-verified name match; the source article carries the full referenced history.
The Beauty of Concho Lake
What people mean when they call Concho Lake beautiful is usually the setting itself - the land, water and sky that put the place on maps. The light does most of the work: low-latitude light keeps greens deep and skies dramatic; the difference between hours, not seasons, drives the look. The seasons restyle everything around it - each season repaints it - plan the visit around the colour you want in your photos. And the beauty compounds with context: with 8 other verified places nearby, the Arizona area reads as one continuous landscape rather than a single viewpoint, which is worth more than any filter on the photos you take here.
Getting There
Concho Lake sits at 34.4429, 109.6294 in Arizona. Most visitors reach it by car, regional rail or local transit; pin the coordinates above rather than only the name - Concho Lake names repeat across regions, and rural entries often lack street addresses.
Base yourself in St. Johns and make this a half-day trip; services, fuel and lodging are easiest there. The run from St. Johns is about 24 km (15 mi) each way, so allow St. Johns as your anchor for the day.
Best Time to Visit
the desert Southwest runs hot from June to September, so spring (March–May) and fall (September–November) are the most comfortable months for hiking and outdoor plans.
Concho Lake Season by Season
- Summer (Jun-Aug) - peak season: the warmest, longest days and everything open, which also makes it the priciest and busiest window
- Autumn (Sep-Nov) - shoulder season: crowds drain away, the light turns photographic, and lodging rates typically fall
- Winter (Dec-Feb) - off-season: cheapest beds and empty viewpoints, but check for closures, snow or rain before committing
- Spring (Mar-May) - rebuild season: wildflowers, newborn wildlife and reopened facilities - the best balance if the weather holds
Things to Do
Planning what to actually do at Concho Lake comes down to the setting it sits in:
- Arrive with the exact coordinates (34.4429, -109.6294) pinned in your maps app — rural place names repeat across states
- Give the site one unhurried hour before adding anything else to the day
- Pair it with the nearest named attraction on this page to make a full loop
- Chain the stop with what is nearby — see the list below before fixing your day route
None of this needs a rigid schedule - the honest pattern at Concho Lake is one anchor at the nearest anchor town, one longer stop, and the rest of the time left for whatever looks better from the car window. That flexibility is what separates a good half-day from a rushed one.
A Perfect Day in Concho Lake
Morning (start early). Have breakfast at St. Johns and roll out before mid-morning - the light is softer, parking is open, and Concho Lake is at its quietest before the day-trippers arrive. Give the main stop its full due first rather than saving it for later.
Midday. From Concho Lake, Mormon Hill is only 3 km away - pair the two rather than driving home for lunch; a picnic beats a reservation near most of these spots.
Afternoon. Keep going to Concho Spring Knoll (4 km) if the group still has legs; it is the standard second half of this loop.
Golden hour. End at the main viewpoint, waterfront or main street as the light drops; this is the hour Concho Lake is genuinely famous for locally, and it costs nothing.
Evening. Sleep at St. Johns unless the road out is long - leaving at dusk is the one mistake that can flatten an otherwise perfect day.
Know Before You Go to Concho Lake
- Save the pin (34.4429, -109.6294) offline - reception in Arizona is exactly as good as it needs to be and no better
- Check the official source listed at the bottom of this page for current hours, fees and closures before driving out
- Visit on weekdays: at most verified spots weekends triple the local traffic
- Bring the basics - water, layers, power bank - because facilities at this kind of place are self-service
Nearby Places Worth Combining
Concho Lake does not sit in isolation - these verified places are all within a short hop and combine into a full loop:
- Mormon Hill — place, about 3 km (2 mi) away
- Concho Spring Knoll — place, about 4 km (2 mi) away
- Cerro Hueco — place, about 16 km (10 mi) away
- Mesa Redonda — place, about 16 km (10 mi) away
- Rogers Lake — place, about 17 km (10 mi) away
- Dutch Mountain — place, about 18 km (11 mi) away
- Burnt Knoll — place, about 19 km (12 mi) away
- Little Mesa Redonda — place, about 20 km (12 mi) away
Planning More of Your Trip
See all destinations in Arizona on the Arizona state hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Concho Lake worth visiting?+
Yes, if you are in the area for more than a single day. Concho Lake is a verified lake in Arizona that most drive-by lists miss, and the official-record provenance behind this page means the location, name and access facts are checked rather than guessed. Give it a couple of hours.
Where exactly is Concho Lake?+
Concho Lake sits at Concho, AZ 85924, coordinates 34.4429, -109.6294. The postal locality is Concho - use the coordinates rather than the name alone, because place names repeat across regions and a map pin beats a keyword search.
How far is Concho Lake from the nearest city?+
Concho Lake is about 24 km (15 mi) from St. Johns, which is an easy out-and-back day trip - most visitors base themselves in St. Johns and make the run in well under an hour each way.
What is the best time to visit Concho Lake?+
May to September. Book the shoulder months either side of that window for the same scenery at lower prices, and check seasonal closures before fixing dates.
How long do you need at Concho Lake?+
Plan on a couple of hours for a first visit - the highlights at a normal pace without rushing. Add another half day if you want to combine it with the nearby places listed above.
Is Concho Lake good for families with kids?+
It works with kids who have patience for the setting; judge it by your shortest-attention traveller and keep the visit to the first highlight.
Does Concho Lake cost anything to visit?+
Most public places like this have no entry fee, but parking, guided programs and seasonal shuttles are the usual small costs. Confirm current fees with the official source cited on this page - they change more often than guidebooks do.
What is near Concho Lake?+
The closest verified neighbour is Mormon Hill; the nearby list above has the full set with distances, and combining two or three of them is the standard way to fill a day around Concho Lake.
Is Concho Lake open to visitors, and do you need a permit?+
Public places listed here are visitable by default; the permit exceptions are usually specific activities (backcountry camping, drones, commercial photography) rather than the visit itself. Check the cited official source for anything activity-based.
Should you visit Concho Lake in bad weather?+
Rain reshapes rather than ruins the day - viewpoints become cloud-scapes and trails get muddy. Keep Concho Lake as a fair-weather item on your trip and swap in the covered alternatives from the regional list when the forecast turns.
What makes Concho Lake different from other places like it?+
Its exact combination: a lake in Arizona with verified coordinates and, where listed, an official designation. The difference is usually the setting and the access pattern rather than the category label - the facts table on this page shows that specifically.
Can you visit Concho Lake as a day trip?+
Yes - at a couple of hours on site, a day loop is realistic: morning at Concho Lake, one nearby stop, and home by evening. The Perfect Day section above has the hour-by-hour version.
What is Concho Lake known for?+
In the wider record, lake-class place: Concho Lake is an irrigation reservoir situated in the town of Concho, in the eastern Arizona grasslands at 6,300 feet (1,900 m). This guide adds the practical layer - verified coordinates, access, seasonality and what to combine it with.
What is the most beautiful thing about Concho Lake?+
The honest short answer is in The Beauty of Concho Lake section above, but distilled: what people mean when they call concho lake beautiful is usually the setting itself - the land, water and sky that put the place on maps. Come for the light and the setting rather than a single checklist object.
Is Concho Lake crowded?+
Concho Lake sits below the headline-name tier in its region, so crowding is an event-and-weekend problem rather than a standing one. Weekday mornings in the shoulder season are the quietest version of the visit.
What is the history of Concho Lake?+
The History & Background section above quotes the coordinate-verified Wikipedia lead for Concho Lake, which is the shortest trustworthy path into its past - dates, name origin and the events that shaped it, with the full referenced article linked there. ## Source Verification This guide's facts come from official public datasets: [Geonames record 5290546](https://www.geonames.org/5290546). Location data is reviewed in per-state batches before publication.
Nearby destinations
Mormon Hill
Mountain · Arizona
Concho Spring Knoll
Mountain · Arizona
Cerro Hueco
Mountain · Arizona
Mesa Redonda
Mountain · Arizona
Rogers Lake
Lake · Arizona
Dutch Mountain
Mountain · Arizona
Burnt Knoll
Mountain · Arizona
Little Mesa Redonda
Mountain · Arizona