Taylor Reservoir Road Trip

To continue with our local road trips, today we’re off to Taylor reservoir. Just about 2.5 hours from our abode, Taylor reservoir is one of Colorado’s high mountain lakes, situated at 9,300ft. For us, that’s a bit lower than where we live. Our driveway is at 10,050 feet!

Taylor reservoir was built in 1937 and has about 2,000 surface acres of water. Fed by the Taylor river, the reservoir offers a wide variety of water activities, as well as tons of OHV trails. Should be a fun drive and a chance to do a little bank fishing.

The trip takes us over Cottonwood Pass at an elevation of 12,119 feet. The Colorado Department of Transportation just finished paving the road last year so it’s a nice drive. The road has a few curves but is in great shape, and has plenty of room for both cars and the never-ending campers making their way over the pass. There are also some nice pull-outs that offer good views, and in some cases, restrooms!

We arrive at the lake and are a bit surprised that you can drive right to the waters edge with your vehicle. Makes lumping the fishing gear a whole lot easier! After about an hour or so we learn that bank fishing here is probably not the optimum option. Seems most of the fish were somewhere else so a pretty slow morning.

Not to waste the day thinking of catching fish, we decide to cruise around and see what the area has to offer. There’s a marina that has boat rentals and a restaurant, but more importantly it also has restrooms. After this quick stop, we chose to drive around as much of the reservoir as possible. The challenge here was dodging the OHV’s, ATV’s and motorcycles racing down the road and into the hills. Only real downside was the dust. This place is dirt heaven and lets you know it!

OK, time to head back towards home and explore the route for a good place to have our lunch. Tomorrow we drive to the old mining towns of Pitkin and Ohio City.