Horsetooth Reservoir

Just a note– I heard a lot of people saying that the Horsetooth Falls hike was supposed to be easy and flat. We heard: «I thought this was a FLAT hike!» It’s not. But, it won’t kill you, if I can do it! My husband, an advanced hiker and 15 year old son (football player) both felt like this had good variety and awesome views. I had to stop on some of the inclines to make sure I could keep my footing, but there were lots of kids and dogs on the trail, so I’m sure you can too!
Great variety, and beautiful falls at the end. We can’t give it 5 stars because of the other places we have been in Colorado! Bring your lunch and eat at the picnic tables there at the parking lot, they are covered.

I come here often for a few reasons. Not too far from Denver. Great view at the top of the mountain. Lots of trails to choose from for hiking and trail running. It’s possible to do a quick 1.5 hour hike or an exhausting day-​long running adventure. Only downside is the entrance fee. It’s something like $ 7 to park. But I think it’s worth it.

Boat in sites are under water. A few have heavily sloping sites due to water level. No big — we need the water. Just don’t waste your money as they won’t refund once you have a boat full of camping gear and realize you’re screwed.

Whether you choose to boat, hike, climb, camp out, or just enjoy the beauty… Horsetooth literally has it all. Mountain biking and hiking paths are simple and gorgeous. This is heaven on earth for Coloradans.
do be warned they will write you a ticket if you do not get a parking pass!

Price = 2 (7.00 to park… Really?)
Experience = 5 (beautiful ride and scenery… close to town… nice)

Go right at the fork for a quick hike, about an hour in and out. I imagine during the spring or summer the water falls are more impressive. There were a lot of kids on the hike so that gives you an idea of the difficulty of the trail.
Dogs are welcome just make sure you keep them on a leash… There are park rangers waiting to fgive tickets

This review is for the Blue Sky Trail for mountain biking. I found the trail pretty challenging but nothing a novice couldn’t handle. I guess I was a little surprised at how much this reminded me of California with shrubs and grass rather than trees. I did some research that showed rattlesnakes are prevalent in the area as well. There isn’t too much ascent– 600′ or so– which makes this a good ride if you are looking for something a bit more moderate.
Overall, I hooked into another trail but round trip it was about 90 minutes over 11 miles.

Good price for a full hookup site overlooking Horsetooth Reservoir. My only complaint would be the shower system — It is $ 1 for one token, a token equals 3 minutes, and it takes 2 tokens to start the showers. However, more often than not, the token slot in the shower will spit your token back out at you or simply eat your token. The maintenance man working at the showers was very nice and gave me back my money for the tokens the machine had eaten along with 3 extra tokens just in case it gave me an issue again, but the machine still shot one back out at me, ate another, and refused to start altogether after the first 6 minutes were up. I would have rather had the campground charge us a couple extra bucks per night and not have had to pay to shower.

We stayed here for a family reunion and all rented a large pontoon with a slide for an afternoon. The staff at the marina are great and there is a fun and secluded little cove that is perfect for swimming that the captain took us to. When we were there there was a ton of rain so the beach was non-​existant. We will be back every 2 years for family reunions… great place.

After being in Los Angeles for most of my life I have really come to appreciate sights like these.

Love this place but haven’t camped there since they took out the shoreline camping on the North East end of lake. Was a blast back in the day. Tried the west side but too crowded. Bring the fun back plz!

Really beautiful and not too crowded place to swim. Lots of people bring rafts to float on in the swimming area. The beach area is nice and clean.
I’m originally from Boston and I regularly listen to people complain about how cold the water is. Fact: It’s not. Sorry but I’m used to –20 degree Atlantic ocean water that numbs the limbs when you stand in the water for too long, and the water temperature here is PERFECT. Cool enough to refresh, warm enough to stay in there and hang out for awhile.
I love this place!

Amazing, awesome, BEAUTIFUL reservoir surrounded by great hiking trails and scenic views.
This is a really nice place where you can BBQ, picnic or bring a boat and go boating and swimming. Bring a camera too as great place to snap pictures.
Next time I visit Horsetooth I would love to go fishing. The trout is supposed to be really great. Would love to also try camping here.
Horsetooth is in the foothills of the Rockies so you don’t have to deal with the issues of the mountains but still have nice views.

Had family in town this weekend and we decided to do the quick hike to the falls on Monday. So much fun, great for the kids in the group and its about as easy a hike as you will find in CO. Trail was clean and I love the new self pay parking! As for the reservoir, I am not as big a fan. Didnt like that you have to pay just to go see someone at the camp sites. Whats up with that? Water was kinda dirty and there seemed to be an excess of boat traffic too. Nice place to hike and spend the day but I prefer the outlying areas to the lake.

Best public park, reservoir, and space in Colorado. My friends were stunned when we BBQ-​ed there and the grills were spotlessly clean and ready for use.
The first time I saw horsetooth I couldn’t believe a giant lake was nestled inbetween Fort Collins and the foothills. Climb Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park or the namesake Horsetooth Rock for great views of Fort Collins, the mountains, and the reservoir.

Huge lake! Nice to go boating on and take pictures from the road or wherever really! Gets very busy in the summer with jet and water skiers which can often be very entertaining! Nice summer distraction. I hear there are a lot of Rattlesnakes up there so do be careful. Snakes DO swim in the water so be aware!

What an oasis! While the dams were being rebuilt, Horsetooth was a bit of a letdown, but before and after that bleak period, you are hard pressed to find a better place to boat, hike, rock climb, or mountain bike in Colorado that is so close to a major city.
Literally from downtown Fort Collins, you can be to Horsetooth Reservoir in 10 minutes.
It’s also great for fishing. I’ve had luck catching pike and trout off of the dams.
If anyone has been to the Fingerlakes in upstate New York, this reservoir reminds me of a small version. Simply awesome!!!

The reservoir is certainly quite pretty, although when I went only part of it had water and the other part had receded back and exposed some of the nasty bed of the reservoir.
There’s numerous places to stop and picnic during warmer months and the surrounding area makes for good hiking and biking.
The drive is scenic and is close enough to the rest of the city that it makes a nice relaxing place to cruise off to.

Joe and I had bought this great frozen mushroom pizza in Medford, and we were determined to enjoy it while camping some place where the enjoyment of a mushroom pizza would be enhanced by a natural landscape of extraordinary beauty
Though we had planned to spend the night at the Vedauwoo Rocks State Park east of Laramie, Wyoming, we were forced by the weather to come down into Colorado instead. We spent most of the day crossing the Rocky Mountains on Intersate 80 between Rock Springs and Cheyenne. At a maximum elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, we suffered snow, wind and difficult road conditions. By Laramie we could see that there was blue sky ahead in the distance, but it was still just too damned cold and miserable there to think about adhering to our original plan.
Once we crossed the state line into Colorado, everything changed. The sky opened up above our heads, the sun melted what snow and ice still clung to the wiper blades and the air was dry and crisp.
We still wanted to camp some place beautiful, so at the suggestion of some locals we made our way to the Horsetooth Reservoir State Park. About 10 miles outside Fort Collins and up a little ways into the Rocky Mountain foothills, the RV park sits in a wide basin at the southern end of the reservoir.
It was plenty cold over night, and it even sprinkled on us a bit. But we geared up for a hike and dragged our pampered city asses out onto the lake bed. Joe had a miner’s type halogen light strapped to his forehead and I carried a 6-​volt lantern in my hand.
It was nearly as dark as it was cold, and we set ourselves the simple goal of finding water’s edge. We had a rough memory of where the lake was from the day-​time, but we couldn’t see shit. At one point the ground under foot became oddly soft and training my lantern beam on it I saw a mat of short weeds and a texture of dirt that reminded me we were walking in a lake bed. This is about when I began to feel like an idiot. A few steps later we could feel big, fat drops of lake water carried up by the gusting wind against our faces. We must be getting close!
Did I mention it was very cold?
Well, we never made it to the water’s edge. But on the walk back to to the rig we understood something about playing in the cold and how a lot of the fun you have when you’re «out there» depends on having a warm place to return to when you’re done.

Looking to get out of town for the day? Want to go camping but don’t feel like trekking up I-​70 or dealing with the mountains? Itching to put that boat in the water and throw on the skis? Here are EIGHT THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW about Horsetooth Reservoir, located on the outskirts of Fort Collins:
1. You can camp, you can boat, you can ski, you can swim, you can fish, you can hike, you can picnic. What more do you want?
2. Dogs MUST be on leashes in the camping areas, and aren’t allowed on the swim beach at all. Rangers and staff are extremely vigilant about this. That said, a park ranger himself encouraged us to take the mutts down to an «unincorporated» area of shoreline to allow them to swim and frolic off-​leash in a spot where nobody else was around. It gets hot up there, and the pups need to cool off too!
3. If you’re not swimming at the beach area (i.e. you’ve headed off to a secluded area to splash with your dogs), be prepared for muck. Like, shoe-​sucking muck. The kind that’ll snatch a flip-​flop right off your feet without even thinking twice… and once it’s gone, it’s GONE. Wearing lace-​up creek shoes might help, but if they’re even the slightest bit loose, you might lose those too. Your best bet is to just brave that slippery, slimy, sinky mess au natural. It feels cool when it squishes between your toes! Oh, and if you’re like me and wear a toe ring… take it off first.
4. Bring your own firewood. Even with ample amounts of dead branches lying around, park rangers frown on scavenging. You’d think they’d be happy to see you reducing the fire danger by picking up groundfuel! You’d be wrong.
5. On a hot summer day, there are more boats on the water than cars gridlocked in the Tech Center during a Denver rush hour. Drive accordingly. There are rules you need to follow here, such as moving counter-​clockwise around the lake’s perimeter, and having an extra «watcher» passenger on your boat if you’re towing a skiier or tuber behind. Be good and play nice. After all, safety’s number one!
6. The best time to water-​ski, if you like the flat, glassy surfaces (my friend calls it «butter»), is in the early morning or early evening. Crowds are also thinner at those times.
7. There’s not a whole lot of shade here, and it gets HOT. If you have a shade canopy, it’s worth your while to bring it along.
8. Trails are for everyone– hikers, bikers, AND horseback riders. For that reason, marked trails might not be the best place to have your dog off leash. Some horses like dogs. Some dogs like horses. And… some don’t. Play fair… let the dogs have off-​leash fun in a place where it’ll be fun for EVERYONE involved (i.e. down by the water, in an area away from everyone else).
Above all, have a good time! We Coloradoans are lucky to have so many amazing, natural places in which to enjoy ourselves. Now get off your damn computer and go do it!