Ridgway Reservoir: A Blue Eye in the Sagebrush
Near Ridgway, Colorado
Just south of the town of Ridgway, a reservoir spreads across a wide bend in the Uncompahgre River, its surface reflecting the peaks of the San Juan Mountains on clear days. Ridgway Reservoir was created by the Ridgway Dam, a Bureau of Reclamation project completed in nineteen eighty seven as part of the Dallas Creek Project, a water storage and distribution system built to support agriculture in the Uncompahgre Valley. The dam was constructed across the Uncompahgre River and backs up a reservoir that is a large body of water at full pool.
Ridgway State Park was established around the reservoir in nineteen eighty nine and has grown into one of the most visited state parks on Colorado's western slope. The combination of a large reservoir in a high-desert setting, with views of fourteen thousand foot peaks on the horizon, gives the park an unusual visual quality unlike most of Colorado's mountain parks. In summer the reservoir draws boaters, swimmers, and anglers.
The cold, clear water supports healthy populations of rainbow trout and draws fishing enthusiasts from throughout the region. The uplands surrounding the reservoir are covered in sagebrush and pinon juniper, habitat for mule deer, bald eagles that hunt the reservoir surface in winter, and occasional black bears moving through the canyon bottoms. The park offers camping along the reservoir shore, a rarity in a region where water is precious and access to it even more so.
