“I've been up there for about fifteen years over at Boyd Lake,” park manager Eric Grey says. “In that time we've seen at the campground, and the park in general, the use has increased dramatically. … A lot of the facilities are old. They're outdated, they're outsized.”
At Boyd Lake, a little over an hour from Denver in Loveland, the project will take multiple years to complete, but phase one — expanding and improving the park’s Cottonwood A loop of campsites — is done and should open by April 2025.
That’s just one of the projects on CPW’s list of campsite improvements this year, which included upgrades at five parks throughout the state.
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Back when Boyd Lake State Park was built, Grey says, RVs or trailers were typically around fifteen to twenty feet in length. Modern versions tend to be closer to forty feet long, so CPW began planning for upgrades as early as 2015. In 2023, funding finally came through to start the work thanks to a law passed in 2021 appropriating around $20 million from the general fund toward campground improvements.
Cottonwood A is one of six campsite loops at Boyd Lake that will be upgraded. In addition to making sites larger, the project added 45 new campsites. In total, 85 campsites were impacted, and 45 of those received water and sewer hookups in addition to the electric hookups that already existed at all sites.
“That's a big improvement, and that's something that people had really said that they wanted,” Grey says. “We've seen that across the industry, where it's almost an expectation now to have that kind of thing in an urban campground.”
The larger sites, meant for up to six people, allow campers to bring wakeboards, jet skis and tents in addition to RVs. The updates also removed unnecessary asphalt, replacing it with concrete where possible, and the majority of sites received ADA accessibility improvements.
Lastly, the first phase fixed the entire park’s wastewater system so it will be ready for future phases of work. Phase one was completed by general contractor Taylor Kohrs and landscape architect Design Concepts.
“This first phase was, really, the big lift of the bunch,” Grey says.
The rest of Boyd Lake's camping loops will get the same treatment in future phases, which are planned to occur every two years so there isn’t constant construction every summer, according to Grey. In the final phase, the park’s restaurant facilities will be upgraded, too.
The new sites are numbered 201 through 285, so take note before making a reservation.
Grey says the hope was to open in the fall of 2024, but the hot, dry summer stopped essential vegetation from growing before the opening. Wildlife officials expect vegetation to be ready by April.
Other Colorado State Park Upgrades
CPW undertook four other campground projects across the state this year.At Chatfield State Park, just outside of Denver, the A loop received upgrades to its camper services building, which improved wastewater flow in the park.
North of Ouray, Ridgway State Park built fifteen electric campsites for its “Eddy” group campsite section. Those campsites require groups of fifteen and are designed to be large enough to meet the needs of groups. The improved sites opened in August and are available annually from May 1 to October 15.
State Forest State Park in Walden completed improvements on its North Park loop in July. The loop now has ten full hookup sites, four electric-and-water-only sites and two types of cabins available to reserve. The loop will be open annually from May 23 to October 31.
Off Interstate 70 West in Loma, Highline Lake State Park underwent one phase of construction to revamp twenty campsites in the park’s Sunset Ridge loop. Now the sites all have electric hookups. Construction on phase two is currently underway to install water and sewer hookups as well. Reservations at Highline Lake are available year-round.
Reservations can be made at Colorado State Parks up to six months in advance, so spring 2025 campers can already start booking their trips to the new sites.