Peggy Bailey doesn’t view Lake Dillon as a place to just gather a few rays. It’s a lifestyle.
If you know Bailey, and many do, you might think water flows through her veins instead of blood. She works as a water resources engineer, including as vice president for the Blue River Watershed Group, and she sits on the Colorado Basin Roundtable. Rowing guided Bailey through the University of Wisconsin, where the coach forming a new program recruited Bailey to be the anchor as a first-year student. She ended that year as a national champion and later rowed for the U.S. in the Olympic debut of women’s team rowing, winning a bronze medal in 1976. She is now in the National Rowing Foundation’s Hall of Fame.
All closures will be announced on the websites for the various state parks.
Barr Lake — The reservoir started the season at full capacity and is not anticipating any closures until July at the earliest.
Cherry Creek — Water rights prevent the state from refilling the reservoir, resulting in possible, even likely, boating restrictions and ramp closures, depending on rain this spring and summer. CPW did acquire additional water this spring to try to extend this year’s boating season.
Jackson Lake — Water may be drawn out as soon as June.
Spinney Mountain — Because of historically low snowpack levels in the South Platte and Arkansas rivers, the boat ramp is unlikely to open this year.
Chatfield, Eleven Mile, North Sterling and St. Vrain — These state parks are expected to have a full boating season.
She came back to the sport with the Frisco Rowing Center and an elite team of Masters rowers across the country. She loves to spend her summers trying to glide and grunt as fast as she can across Lake Dillon’s waters. And this one constant in her life, the sport that keeps her fit and engaged and gives her an identity, is in danger of literally drying up.
The severe drought seizing Colorado may leave some of the state’s most popular lakes looking more like puddles by the end of the summer. Lakes aren’t just places for recreation and relaxation. In fact, the hard truth is, those are simply beneficial byproducts. Many are reservoirs, and all that water goes toward agriculture and irrigation, in addition to the municipalities that need it for things like drinking water.
This year, of course, there isn’t much water to go around, after a winter in name only and a hot spring left us with the driest season on record, according to the state snowpacks.
In a normal year, those snowpacks feed our rivers, which flow into those reservoirs, leaving them plump and happy. This year, the rivers were more like a trickle, and that not only means not much went into the reservoirs, but that those who own water rights will likely have to use them sooner and in much greater gallons.
Some popular state parks, for instance, may have a severely limited boating season, such as Boyd Lake in Loveland or Cherry Creek, and others, including Spinney Mountain, won’t have one at all. CPW has even had to salvage fish at a few places, such as Antero Reservoir, which was drained to move the water to another location. Windsor Lake has also suspended boating permits because of low levels. The impact of a weak boating season could be significant: Boating adds nearly $2 billion to the Colorado economy every year, according to the state.
Bailey’s never seen Lake Dillon so low since she moved to the area in 1982. The Frisco Bay Marina, a place that turned Lake Dillon into a beach, invigorating the town during the hottest months of the year, will open but with limitations. The rowing center may not open at all.
“I’ve never seen Frisco not be able to operate,” Bailey said. “It’s a wonderful facility. It brought the water close to the shoreline and made it possible for everyone to engage with the lake.”
She has joined the Rocky Mountain Rowing Club at Cherry Creek State Park (despite its own problems) because of the uncertainty of her rowing center. Driving that far just for a little time on the water has meant some long days, she said, but that’s how much she loves it.
“There are other, more serious issues this drought creates, obviously,” Bailey said, “but it’s been really tough.”
Too little, too late
Yes, the early May winter storm was a nice break from the hot, dry weather that’s plagued Colorado since, well, October. But don’t expect it to solve much of anything.
“I mean, we won’t turn it down,” said Kara Van Hoose, spokesperson for the northeastern region of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, of the wet May snowstorm. “But in order for it to really help the reservoir levels, the rain would have to be epic proportions.”
That has happened as recently as 2023, when a 24-hour deluge helped fill reservoirs, rescuing them from another dry winter, Van Hoose said. But that’s unlikely to happen again, even with a super El Niño raising hopes of a wetter summer.
Rocky Mountain Rowing Club member Ritchie Sax, center, competes in the 5280 Regatta on Oct. 9 at Cherry Creek Reservoir in Aurora. It was the first race in the state to be sanctioned by US Rowing. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)It’s doubtful Cherry Creek Reservoir will get low enough to beach the rowers, but the boaters who make the state park one of the most popular locations in Colorado may not have a long season. The reservoir is the lowest the rowers have seen in their 41 years on the lake, said Grant Davis, a spokesperson for the Rocky Mountain Rowing Club. It is already 3 feet below normal. He said if it drops another 3 feet, the park may have to shut down the boat ramps. This would help the rowers get through their workouts without tangling with the wakes caused by motorboaters, but he’d also feel for them as someone who loves being on the water.
“We really doubt the lake will drop to that amount,” Davis said, “but the fact that the park has discussed it is a bummer.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Cherry Creek could be closed, but the timing of that depends if rain falls and how much.
Some boaters, and those who profit from the activity, have remained positive, including Eric Smith, general manager and co-owner of the Colorado Boat Center in Johnstown. Some see this more as a cycle than a long-term problem.
“If you’ve been around Colorado, you know we go through a drought every seven years,” Smith said, “and we’re going through a nasty one right now. But it’s not like every lake will shut down. The boaters will hit it earlier this year and stay longer.”
Private lakes should have good water levels throughout much of the year because they usually don’t have obligations to fulfill agriculture or municipal water rights, Smith said.
“A lot of them are saying they will have good conditions,” Smith said. “Some lakes that have had memberships available now have waiting lists.”
Boaters generally need to travel to enjoy themselves anyway, Smith said, and some may not rely on their favorite spots. “The way the Western half of the U.S. is right now, the people who used to go to Lake Powell, they’re pushing east and going to the Ozarks or other places.”
His business is up more than 45% over last year, something that surprised him, he admits.
“That tells me that water and fuel are not obstacles to people who want a boat,” Smith said. “They will find a place to use it.”
The Rocky Mountain Classics Boat Club enjoys using Boyd Lake in Loveland for one of its gatherings, but the lake is just a third of its usual level, and it is unclear if the reservoir will be filled this year. The state park will likely limit the numbers of boaters rather than close the reservoir.
“There’s only a little part of the lake to run your boat on,” said Marcus Divita, who is secretary of the club and lives in Englewood. “Some things we will just have to cancel. Others will be OK.”
The club has discussed alternatives, such as Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins, but they know they’re likely not the only ones.
“If some reservoirs are closed, that may push people to others,” Divita said, “and so it might be more crowded in other places.”
Divita did offer some perspective on the drought. He, like many others who enjoy the water, knows the season isn’t always as generous as he would like.
“It’s a first-world problem, right?” Divita said. “It’s fun and an escape, but it’s not life-changing. I’m saving money on boat gas to pay for my water bill.”
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