I’m thinking that Sylvan Lake SP was my favorite glamping trip all season! What a great discovery 🙂 I have to say, I had a hard time choosing from the hundreds of photos that Natasha took. Each one was more beautiful than the next! If you are interested in purchasing any of the images, please let me know. Natasha sells large prints of all of her images (except the selfies, that would just be weird!).
Brush Creek Road leads to Sylvan Lake SP, and is a beautiful winding road through a mountainy-country side. There is also a bike path along some of the road that you can enjoy. Once you enter the park there is a very nice Visitor Center, where you can pick up information on hiking, biking, and fishing. Along West Brush Creek there is a trail from the split that follows the road and the creek all of the way to Sylvan Lake. There are many parking areas and conservation areas along the way. Another great thing about Sylvan Lake SP—you can take your dog with you! 🙂
While we were there the brown trout were spawning, so the park closed the inlet of the lake. We hiked around the closed area and saw dozens of nice sized browns hanging in the small stream. If you want to fish that area keep in mind the inlet, and 1/2 mile up, is closed from Sept. 1–Nov. 30. The rainbow trout were hitting leaches. Every once and awhile they would rise for a hatch. You are also able to rent canoes at the campground.
It is so peaceful floating in the middle of the lake in the belly boat. I did learn my lesson—off the water before the sun goes over the mountain side and do not step on the muddy shore unless you want waders full of stinky, muddy, water! Did I mention that Sylvan Lake has hot showers? 🙂
We encounter one entire day of snow and 20 degree weather. Most of the day the snow blew sideways. It was a great test for our solar panels that we had just installed. Covered in snow and ice for over 24 hours and we did not run out of battery power! I think that it was a great upgrade for the Airstream.
While driving through the town of Eagle we noticed a sign for a Trout Unlimited fundraiser that was taking place while we were in town. We decided to take in the event, and for $10 each we were able to bring Daisy (such a dog friendly town!) and enjoy live music, BBQ, games, raffles and I even learned how to improve the length of my fly cast—apparently I was not aggressive enough. I’ll use the gentle cast for the streams and my new aggressive cast while floating in the belly boat! Natasha won a box of flies from Gore Creek Fly Fisherman, Inc. (check out the video on their web page) and three box lunches from Heidi’s Deli. What an enjoyable fundraiser 🙂
If you follow East Brush Creek Road there are a couple other campsites. One leads to a spelunking camp area! Fulford Cave Campground is high, and best for tents. Be aware that the bats are fragile in the caves, and they are beginning to show signs of the white nose syndrome. There is another campground called Yeoman Park Campground on East Brush Creek. This looks like a great campground, off the beaten path. I was told that the small stream that runs nearby holds some trout, too. If we were tent camping, I would preferred to stay at Yeoman Park.
Keep in mind, there is no phone service at all at Sylvan Lake. If you have an emergency you have to use the phone at the visitors center. I had to call into work to take an extra day off 🙂
More Information:
When: Late Summer, 2013
Elevation: 8,500 ft
Reservation: Sylvan Lake State Park, CO
Misc: level, water, dump station
Nice blog ladies! Godspeed on your travels
Thanks, Meg 🙂
I came across your site on a web search and it is wonderful! I love all of the details you give about the sites. Your Baby Doe review helped me make the decision to book our fall camping trip there, I think my kids will love it!! Thanks for the wonderful reviews, they are very helpful. I need to put Sylvan lake on my list it looks amazing!! 🙂 Your pictures are helpful too!
You are so welcome! I’m glad you are heading to Baby Doe. It is so pretty there, and the town is very cute.
I hope you can make it to Sylvan Lake. It is one of our favorite spots.
Sara