Campground Review: Chatfield State Park, Denver, CO

We spent our second week in Denver at Chatfield State Park. Whereas Cherry Creek State Park was smack dab in the middle of the city, Chatfield felt like a calm oasis due to its location on the South West edge of the city. During our stay the lake was at least eight feet above the high water line and the South Platte River flooded its banks and closed the road around the South end of the park.

We had back-in site #196 in the D loop. Roads and sites are paved and each site has a picnic table and fire pit. All utilities were towards the back of the site, making it quite a stretch to the sewer hookup. Sites are well separated. Our site was wide open to the East allowing us to watch all the storms passing through the area. The Remote Control Aircraft field was visible across the plains and was enjoyable to watch except for the occasional noisy aircraft.

There are many miles of paved and dirt trails throughout the park, though some were flooded during our stay. All types of watersports are allowed on the lake and there are stables for horseback riding. There are pit toilets in each campground loop as well as showers and real toilets and a small laundry facility more centrally located. Verison signal was strong, as was the campground wifi.

Deer roamed through the campground a few times during our stay.
This was taken from our doorway.

There are lots of prairie dogs in the lowlands.

Chatfield Reservoir viewed from the top of the dam.
The campground is located on a rise on the far side of the reservoir. There was no danger of the campground flooding.
Had the trails not been flooded we could have had an excellent loop bike ride around the entire park.

That's a bridge sticking out of the water on the left and the very top of a BBQ on the right.
This is a picnic area on the West side of the park.

The structure in the center is a restroom which encloses pit toilets...I shudder to think about that under water!
This road led to parking for a picnic area.

We drove through here twice before the road was closed for the duration of our stay.

Western Tanager.

Taken from our doorway.

We let the huntress out to roam free in the tall grasses...she was in heaven!

Rosie in her element!

The old Slocum cabin claimed a prime spot on a bluff overlooking what was the South Platte River valley in the 1800's.
Six people lived in this small cabin!

A paved trail winds among the grassy knolls along the tree lined reservoir.

This trail has been overtaken by the river!

We walked a big loop one day that included the Highline Canal trail, shown here.
Just outside Chatfield State Park, the Highline Canal trail took us past bucolic looking farms and pastures.

Our site, D196.

Storm watching from our site.