Water activities in Colorado? Pictures please!

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by ohazco

Bonny has been drained and shut down for several years now as part of the lawsuit by Kansas against Nebraska and Colorado.

Palmer Lake has also been dry for the past few years, due to extreme drought and other factors… But a local restoration group 'Awake Palmer Lake is confident that that will change this winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB22QeVl0Sw
I walk a line between optimism and pessimism on this issue. There are full/empty comparison shots in the video. I also have several of my own if that's of interest.

[sunsprit]

It's been a few years since I last sailed on Bonny ...

and I'd heard about the proposal to drain Bonny down to a minimal pool for the fish and habitat. I saw that they were draining it around 2011.

But my understanding was that it was to be a one-time draining to help address the 4 billion gallon shortfall that Kansas was alleging over the years, not in perpetuity. Looks like the reports I was reading were incorrect, the lake is not refilled.
And they were saying that they'd turn it into a wildlife habitat with campgrounds still maintained. Apparently not gonna' happen for the time being.

McConnaughy beckons. A bit further to drive, but miles of beaches and water. As well, you can camp out on the east side of Kingsley Dam with the lakes there.

[ohazco]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

It's been a few years since I last sailed on Bonny ...

and I'd heard about the proposal to drain Bonny down to a minimal pool for the fish and habitat. I saw that they were draining it around 2011.

But my understanding was that it was to be a one-time draining to help address the 4 billion gallon shortfall that Kansas was alleging over the years, not in perpetuity. Looks like the reports I was reading were incorrect, the lake is not refilled.
And they were saying that they'd turn it into a wildlife habitat with campgrounds still maintained. Apparently not gonna' happen for the time being.

McConnaughy beckons. A bit further to drive, but miles of beaches and water. As well, you can camp out on the east side of Kingsley Dam with the lakes there.

Not ever. It wasn't just drained, it was a closing of the state park, facilities removed, resigned for the "South Republican State Wildlife Area", complete fish kill, the whole 9 yards. The water gained from not losing it to evaporation is used to try to satisfy the volume sent across the border, along with the water we are now pumping from the aquifer and piping into the river at the border. Locals tried to raise a stink.. but the Denver news wasn't interested until after it already happened... lots of good that did.

Drained Bonny is not the same as empty Merideth, Henry, or Blue Lake, which are irrigation lakes which go from empty to full and back in the same season.

McConnaughy is overcrowded IMO, but its all relative I suppose.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by ohazco

McConnaughy is overcrowded IMO, but its all relative I suppose.

On the major holiday weekends, Mac will have crowds at the bays on the North side shoreline ...

But I've had many days on this lake for the off-holiday weekends when there wasn't but a couple other boats on the water and places such as Arthur Bay were all to myself if I wanted to camp at Mac. Also, we kept a 32' sailboat moored in a cove on the South shoreline area for several years and had many days where few other boats were to be seen. We'd fly into Ogallala where we kept a car at the airstrip and could be on the water about 45 minutes later for an evening sail and overnight camp on the boat.

Additionally, there are a number of other lakes in the SW Nebraska region which get the same type of underused scenario; campgrounds completely deserted and mine was the only boat on the lake ... at least, I didn't see any other boats. At the most, a few local fisherman who launched from a ramp for either early morning or late afternoon fishing into the early darkness before pulling their boats out of the water; pretty much unobtrusive in their presence. Favorites for me include Enders Res, Lake Minatare, and Hugh Butler Lake. As a traveling sales rep through the region in the last several years with a Class B RV for my mobile office, I've had many a night where I had a place completely to myself ... it's interesting to pull into a facility with a couple hundred campsites and see nobody else there.

I've had similar experiences camping at Keyhole Res in Eastern Wyoming (not too far from Gillette), and at Glendo Res by Glendo, or Fremont Lake by Pinedale. These are somewhat further away lakes from the Front Range of Colorado, but still a reasonable drive time to access. I've had a lot of days in the past few years where I was the only camper there at the time. Could toss my Laser into the water and had the place to myself for an afternoon-evening sail and camping for the night. Even if I wasn't the only camper ... the lakes are sizable enough that there could have been a few dozen boats on the water and you'd hardly call them crowded areas.

The bottom line is that there are numerous lakes throughout the region that are very accessible, with good camping, boating, fishing, some beaches, decent launching ramps, etc. Some have campsites right at the water's edge where you can pull your boat up on the shoreline right next to where you're staying. Places like Dillon Res have marina facilities where you can keep a boat in a slip, although like all the mountain lakes, the water is very cold and you'll not be wanting to swim there ... and Dillon is only about an hour from the Denver area. If you're looking for a longer boating season, there's Pueblo Res down to the south and a sizable body of water there, too.