I grew up a mile away from the beach and I've only been in AZ for about 2 years with maybe 10 lake trips under my belt (mainly to Lake Las Vegas and Havasu during my college years with a couple Big Bear Lake trips for church camp in high school) so I am still getting used to not hoping on my bike to go body surfing whenever I get bored, but this place exceeded my expectations without a doubt.
My friend just fixed up her jet skis and invited me to join her for a lake day. I was a bit confused at first because I had always rented a boat when going to the lake in the past and was wondering what you could possibly do on separate water vehicles. After all the lake is meant for finding someone who is naïve enough to be tricked into thinking that being a boat captain is the best opportunity ever so that rest of us can drink while we blast Lonely Island's I'm On A Boat. Am I right?
We got on the skis from the docking point and found a nice area at Bartlett Flatts to get set up. We played some music, had lunch, enjoyed the sun, and went out for a couple ski rides. Her parents joined us later with their boat, but it wasn't a necessity to enjoy a day at the lake.
Bartlett lake reminds me a lot of Strands Beach in Dana Point and I fell like you could even enjoy going without a watercraft by finding a nice place to park your car and setting up some chairs and a sun shade. It is a truly versatile area that I look forward to enjoying frequently. I'm right off where the 51 and 101 meet and it is about 45 minutes away from there so the drive isn't bad either.