Horsetooth Reservoir

Horsetooth Reservoir is right in Fort Collins's backyard at the edge of the Northern Colorado foothills.  The uniquely shaped lake takes advantage of long, natural valley behind a hogback to create a six-mile long impoundment with four separate dams.  The resulting water body has  a mostly linear, open shoreline on its east side but an interesting, complex western shoreline with multiple coves, inlets and islands.  As an added bonus, there are several wakeless zones on lake's western shore that make it ideal for stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking.

The shorelines of Horsetooth Reservoir are contained in two separate recreation entities: Horsetooth Mountain Park (managed by Larimer County Open Space) on the eastern and southwestern shores, and Lory State Park (managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife) on the northwestern shore.  Fees for both of these areas are $9/day (subject to change; check parks websites linked above).  Season passes for Colorado State Parks and Larimer County are also honored at Lory and Horsetooth, respectively, but aren't transferable.  

Horsetooth Reservoir

Vicinity Map

    Location Info [key]:

    Scenery: 3

    Shoreline Interest: 4

    Use: High

    Fee: $9/vehicle

    Access: Paved, Gravel

    Full elev = 5430; Best near full

    Water level info

    Recreation map

    Rec info - Larimer County Parks

    Rec info - Lory State Park

    Weather

Horsetooth Mountain Park Access: South Bay and Inlet Bay at the south end of the lake, as well as Satanka Bay at the northwest corner, have formal boat ramps to launch from.  These three accesses are all part of Horsetooth Mountain Park (Larimer County).  Inlet Bay houses a marina as well and will likely have significantly more traffic.

Lory State Park Access:  There is no direct vehicle access to the water from Lory State Park, but hand-launchable crafts can manageably be carried 500-1000 feet to the water's edge in Orchard, South Eltuck, North Eltuck and Soldier Canyon coves.  Once on the water, this is a premier region of the lake to explore by stand-up paddleboard because the bays and coves are wakeless and moderately to well protected from the open exposures of the lake by islands and shoreline topography.  They are also interconnected and feature miles of natural shoreline at high water, without interruption by roads or obstructions.  

Eltuck Bay

Soldier Canyon Bay

Features and Conditions:  The water level at Horsetooth can fluctuate significantly throughout the year; the best chance of finding the lake at or near full are in late May and early June.  Current water levels are published by USBR here (full elev = 5430).  When the water levels are high, the shoreside woods and meadows in the western coves become partially inundated and allow an opportunity to paddle through the trees.  Scattered red-rock outcrops where lake inlets punctuate the western hogback also provide for some scenic cliffside paddling.  

☆ South Eltuck Cove

☆ Soldier Canyon Cove

When conditions are prime, Horsetooth is certainly worth the trek from Denver and has plenty of pockets to explore for return trips.  While paddling along the lake's western shores, the adjacent foothills can conceal approaching weather.  It is a good idea to know ahead of time the hour when storms or fronts are forecasted to arrive.  Check the forecast discussion link on the NWS weather page to know if any abrubt changes are in store.  Have fun and be play safely!

Please feel free to add observations of current conditions to the comments!