Island Acres & Ridgway State Parks

28 05 2020

Island Acres site #12

Island Acres is located in the narrow De Beque Canyon just east of Palisade, with railroad tracks on one side and busy I-70 on the other.  Sounds great huh?  Well, even with this “location” problem, we’ve spent time in this beautiful park at least 4 times.  De Beque Canyon was formed by the Colorado River and all of the sites are within easy walking distance of the river. RV facilities include 80 sites, both Full Hookup and Electric only.  All sites are 30Amp except 61-63 and 79 & 50 which are 50Amp.  There’s a swimming beach, stocked fishing lakes and a guest services building with showers and a laundromat.  All campsites provide a fire ring, a picnic table (some covered) and a grill.

In the past we’ve tended to select low-number sites, along the river and as far as possible from I-70.  This weekend we’re in site #12, an interior back-in site.  Friends are in site #16 and #20.  Site #12 has a nice shade tree to the east – however, after being parked under this tree for 4 days, we understand how messy a honey locust can be – dripping sap and lots of fallen branches make for extra clean-up work on the top of the slides and in the outdoor mats and chairs.

Ridgway, Elk Ridge, Site 86

From Island Acres, we’re headed to Ridgway State Park, only about 2 hours away, and just south of Montrose.  We think Ridgway is one of Colorado’s most beautiful State Parks.  There are 3 campgrounds along the Uncompahgre River and Ridgway Reservoir, Dakota Terraces with sites 1-79, Elk Ridge with 80-187 and Pa-Co-Chu-Puk with 200-280.  We’re parked in site #86 in Elk Ridge.  The back-in site provides 30A electric along with a paved walkway to a gravel tent pad and a large shady area with a picnic table and fire ring. Ridgway’s website, updated in May 2020: “A cell tower in the park permits most carriers to have good reception in the park. There is NO T-Mobile reception.”  The Verizon hot spot worked well and they are right, absolutely no T-Mobile service.

Ridgway, Elk Ridge, Site 86

After Ridgway, we’ll make one more stop at the new Cool Sunshine RV Park in Alamosa.  Located just behind the main train station in Alamosa, this park provides a great location for short walks exploring downtown Alamosa.   After 9 nights traveling through south western Colorado, we’ll make the quick trip over La Veta pass and back home.  It’s been a great “first of season” trip. In 3 weeks we’ll return through Alamosa for a trip to Creede, CO.  More from there…

Cool Sunshine RV, Alamosa, CO


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Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch

27 05 2020

Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch

After Alamosa we’re headed to Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch, a private membership only campground nestled in a canyon overlooking Blue Mesa reservoir, the largest empound on the Gunnison River. With over 250 sites, PARK MAP this campground offers a bit of everything:  Cottages, Cabins, Tent sites, Premier sites, a playground offering shuffleboard, horseshoes, mini-golf a fishing pond and even a tranquil adults only area with a pool and hot tub.  Internal roadways are paved, with wide graveled sites.  Sites offer a cement slab with a picnic table and surrounding sage brush to provide a bit of privacy.

Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch

We’re parked in site 374, high along the northern edge of the ranch with great views over the lower sites and beyond to Blue Mesa.  Nearly all sites are very long back-in’s, with all utilities at the rear.  This configuration makes good sense from a construction standpoint, but generally takes extra lengths of all connectors.  Running along this same utility corridor, WiFi access points are mounted on posts above every 10th site or so. With both excellent signal and speed this WiFi network had no problem handling an IP phone and Roku streaming TV.  This is a nice resort, we’ll be back!

Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch

Blue Mesa Recreation Ranch


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Alamosa KOA

26 05 2020

Island Acres, James M Robb – Colorado River State Park

With friends returning from a month on the Oregon coast, others that are picking up their trailer from winter storage in SW Utah, and a few more “locals”, the Grand Mesa area of western Colorado looks like an ideal meeting point.  We’re bound for Island Acres, a section of the James M Robb – Colorado River State Park.

Enroute to Grand Junction and on a fairly quick overnight, we caught up with friend that are now the owners of the KOA in Alamosa, CO.  We last visited this park in 2015 on our way to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  Just a few miles east of Alamosa, the park offers nearly 270 degree views of beautiful Colorado mountain peaks. With nearby Blanca Peak on the southern stretch of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east and north, and the rugged San Juan Mountains to the west – the views are spectacular!  Especially from the parks premium end sites.  We’re parked at #24, centered in the park, complete with a fire ring and picnic table and even a couple of shade trees.  The full hook-up sites offer conveniently placed water, sewer portal and electrical.  The free WiFi runs along just fine even for Roku TV streaming!  An in-progress expansion include 14 new sites including 5 patio sites.  Things look great Les & Deb, thanks for hosting us for a quick overnight!


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