We first visited Lake Pueblo State Campground in April this year. We needed to get out of the house and the weather was surprisingly warm a couple of hours south, so we decided to give it a try. We had a fantastic trip and loved it so much that we booked a return trip for the fall while we were still there! (And now we're thinking we may come back in November if the weather is nice down there still!)
Lake Pueblo is an enormous reservoir about 2 1/2 hours south of Thornton with tons of camping, hiking paths, and mountain biking. Many sites are situated about 100 feet from the lake, which in other years makes it easy to fish right from the shore. (This fall it was about five feet lower than in the Spring and it was a huge dangerous cliff down to the water's edge, so my fishermen headed upriver to find a better shoreline).
You can find showers throughout the camping areas, which we took full advantage of after getting out of the lake. We always have great Verizon coverage in the area, so we can go down mid-week and make it a working camping trip, which we do often to take advantage of a longer visit.
In our previous visit, we stayed in the Prairie Ridge loop of the Northern Plains Campground. We had some great views there, but this visit we booked a site in the Yucca Flats loop with beautiful views and close proximity to the playground! The kids would head off on their bikes to the playground in the mornings, and we'd head down to the lake in the afternoons.
We brought our kayaks along and launched them from the South Shore Marina and were able to kayak to rocky shores where we could set up and relax for a bit while the kids and dog waded in the water. There is a swim beach onsite, but it's only open Memorial Day through Labor Day, but there's plenty of shorelines to dip your toes in the water.
Another perk is that it's close to town which means we can order pizza from Pizza King in Pueblo West. I generally like cooking while we camp, but to have one night off is always a perk! There's also a Walmart nearby, which makes picking up last-minute items pretty easy.
Head here to find out more about Lake Pueblo State Park.
