Friday, July 27, 2012

Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado

We have finally escaped the heat.  We arrived here Tuesday and the temps topped out in the mid-90’s (much better than 100+).   Also, we have had late afternoon thunderstorms come through and cool things off each day.  We have actually been using sheets and a light cover on the bed at night.

Jackson Lake is a medium size agricultural reservoir about 35 miles east of Greeley, Colorado.  It is a State Park that takes reservations and first come/first served campers.  I had made (and paid for) reservations back in March or April for a large pull through site with 20/30/50 amp electric.  There is a dump station and many fresh water hydrants to fill your tank, but no water or sewer hookups at the site.  The fee is $20 per night, which I thought was reasonable.  However, when we arrived we learned there is a State Park fee of $7 per night or $70 for an annual pass.  That brings the cost up to $27 a night; more than we like to spend.  On the good side, the sites are large and well spaced with a solid steel picnic table and benches along with a steel fire ring.  You can see the lake from any site in the park.  Here is a sunrise shot taken from our site:

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We have pretty much had the park to ourselves until today (Friday).  Campers have been arriving steadily for the past few hours and setting up for the weekend.  Lots of families with Class C’s and Travel Trailers.  Wildlife here is primarily sea birds like pelicans and terns.  We have also seen some sand hill cranes and a pair of hawks.  On the ground there is a plethora of bunnies, which gets our little Annie very excited.  The other evening we went for a long walk on the large dry edge of the lake bed.  Rosie loves sea birds and took some great pictures, here are two of them:

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Yesterday morning we took another long walk and we got these pictures:

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Our main purpose for stopping here is to spend some time with my brother and his family.  They live nearby in Eaton, CO.  They are coming to visit with us tomorrow and we will go spend the day with them on Sunday for their weekly family gathering of kids and grandkids.

Monday morning we head for Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, CO, a suburb of Denver.  We will be there for 12 days visiting old friends and neighbors in Bailey and Shawnee.  We will spend another week in the area at the home of friends and a forest service campground in the mountains.  I will leave you a couple of sunset shots from our site:

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Thanks for stopping by.

2 comments:

owensontheroad said...

Lovely! We will be looking for a campground best Greeley in October. My youngest son lives there.

Jim and Judy said...

Nice looking CG. I think many of the SP's are finding ways to increase their revenue stream. GA now charges a parking fee for camper's vehicles. The camping fee is pushing $30.00 per night.