Island Lake Campground

Dry camping in the finest of settings. (7 standard electric sites are available on Reserve America) The road getting in is a little rough. Just take it slow. The beauty of this area is unmatched. My husband lived in Alaska for some time. He said the Grand Mesa National Forest area reminded him of the Kenai Peninsula with its lush green forest and multiple lakes. Be prepared for cooler temperatures at 10,000 feet elevation. We experienced lows of 40 degrees in late August. Closest cell signal is in the town of Cedaredge (about 20 minutes away).

We've visited Island Lake many times as it's close to home. This was our first overnight camping at the campground. It's a newer type NFS campground. The sites are RV friendly for the most part, some with electric. There is a few drive thru sites and a couple large group sites. Most of the campsites are shaded but some are wide open with spectacular views of the distant San Juan Mountains. The hosts will help you fill your fresh water tank with their special backflow friendly adapter. The hosts are very active keeping the campground clean, kept and in control. The two vault toilets were kept clean everyday. There's plenty of trash containers. There's much to do at or near Island Lake. There's many off-road 4X4 trails, numerous hiking trails, fishing and boating at dozens of nearby Grand Mesa lakes. The fishing at Island Lake was pretty good for Rainbows, a few Cutthroats and a rare Splake, (Brook/Lake Trout Hybrid). Our site was one of the better ones as it had shade, privacy and easy, drive thru for our camper. The mosquitos are typical for the Grand Mesa. Not horrible but very plentiful. Bring your insect repellent as you'll need it around camp.

We enjoyed Site #39 (non-electric) which was one of the few with a view of the lake (albeit obscured by trees). Site #1 (electric) also has a good (obscured) view of the lake. Be aware that although the lake is well within walking distance, the trail to the lake is downhill and requires stepping over some rocks and downed trees. However, there is a boat ramp at the day use area about a 1/2 mile away. Some people put their watercraft in at the boat ramp and then parked them closer to the campground for their stay. Little Bear Campground has better lake accessibility.

The lake is pretty small. We paddled the perimeter and an extra loop around the island and our journey was about 3 miles. We also paddled at Eggleston Lake and the perimeter was also about 3 miles. We saw 2 bald eagles and a couple of deer at Eggleston.

We traveled to the Land’s End Observatory and the trip was well worth it, as the view was spectacular!

Overall, we thought the campground was pretty good. The sites are large, but don’t provide as much privacy as I would have thought given the large site sizes and the amount of trees. We wouldn’t return because we’ve “been there, don’t that” in terms of paddling the lake and the amount of mosquitoes (6/26-6/28). However, I believe the fishing was probably very good as the lake seemed to be well stocked.

AT&T varied from No Service to 2 bars. We got some internet service with our Airstream Connected system when AT&T (which Connected uses) had 2 bars. Verizon varied from No Service to 1 bar.

Access score of 3, due to long climb up to the top of the Mesa.

We stayed in the group site recently and were overwhelmed by the views! We took so many pictures that we are planning to make some sort of collage for our camper! In addition to the scenery, the hosts were fantastic! Not only did they help us settle in but they probably kept the cleanest outhouses we have ever used. My wife is a bathroom stickler and she was extremely impressed as well! All of this combined with access to great trails and lakes made this a wonderful stay I would gladly repeat!