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Island Lake Campground is located at an elevation of 10,000 feet on Colorado's Grand Mesa, which is home to more than 300 fishing lakes, near the cities of Cedaredge and Delta. Visitors enjoy the area for its excellent fishing, canoeing and hiking opportunities.
More than 3,000 miles of trails and routes provide access to areas of rugged beauty and solitude. Many were carved by indigenous peoples, early explorers and miners, offering an experience that connects visitors to the land and its prehistoric and historic past.
The topography allows the forest to provide year-round trails for beginners to experts. The mountains, plateau and mesa never fail to provide a breathtaking backdrop.
The campground offers 39 sites, including electric, non-electric and group sites. Picnic tables and campfire rings are provided. Three vault restrooms are located within the facility.
Trail access for hiking and off-road vehicle driving can be found within the campground. Visitors will find a boat ramp, fish cleaning station and new restroom at nearby Island Lake. Day-use parking and boat trailer parking are available for a small fee.
Island Lake is just .10 miles from the campground. A few sites offer panoramic views of Grand Valley and several lakes below. A dense grove of mature spruce trees covers most sites.
A wide variety of wildlife frequents the area, including deer and elk.
Recreation opportunities on the Grand Mesa National National Forest and surrounding areas are varied, and millions of visitors come to enjoy nearly 60 campgrounds and 13 picnic areas and more than 3,700 miles of system roads, including national and state-designated scenic byways and other scenic or recreation travel corridors.
Thousands of miles of trails for hiking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, mountain biking and motorcycle riding are available, including sections of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the Colorado Trail.
More than 300 lakes and 3,600 miles of streams are found on the Forest. Six mountain peaks reach more than 14,000 feet in elevation, creating many popular areas for rock and ice climbing, hiking and driving along high elevation meadows thick with colorful wildflowers and nature observation and photography of Colorado's abundant wildlife.
A variety of historic mining sites are also found in the forest, including the San Juan Mining area, as well as the Alpine Tunnel Historic District, which includes approximately 13 miles of the former Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad railbed across the Continental Divide. The forest also contains three ski resorts, three lodges, two organizational camps and one marina.
From Cedaredge, Colorado, take State Route 65 north for 15.7 miles to campground sign (Forest Route 116). Turn left at sign onto Route 116 (gravel) and go 1.4 miles to campground sign. Turn left at sign into campground.
Nice campgrounds, sitting at 10,000 in Grand Mesa Nat Forest. Valley was 102, mountain top 72. Had a little cell on top. Verizon 1-2 bars.
For a USFS Campground you get what you get, or more aptly get what you don't get. Great campground, sites are big enough (massive compared to private campgrounds.) Vault toilets, no showers or laundry facilities and no dump station for RV"s etc...
Had the occasional 1 bar on AT&T, my cell booster I put up did GREAT with Verizon/Sprint, just not enough AT&T to boost. Occasionally I could push a text through.
We stayed in site #1 which had electric and was nice. It rained several times which washed mud down an access road next to the site into our campground, but that's nature. If we go back we will actually camp deeper into the campground and just bring our inverter generator for power. The sites deeper in the loop seemed a bit nicer.
Beautiful views, clear water, decent fishing... we loved it. Mosquitos were present for sure (end of July) but not as bad as I anticipated with bug spray. We actually would make a defensive circle of citronella candles which helped a little to. Bring the DEET though or a thermacell.
Having camped a lot, all over the Rocky Mountain states, the campground was what I expected (i.e. no amenities) so I give it 5 stars. Toilets were clean, Host was polite, campground wasn't crowded despite what others say.
Beautiful campground! A bit crowded on weekends. Nice that they have electric sites if you need them! Loads of wildlife and a super short walk to the lake.
Wonderful campground & an incredibly helpful campground host!!
We were here over a holiday weekend and the views are great, easy access to the lakes, lodge and trails. We had some car trouble and the host Mike was beyond helpful. He went out of his way to make sure our trip wasn't ruined and went above and beyond to make sure we resolved our issue.
We will definitely be coming back and highly recommend this campground!
Great spot to camp on the Mesa. The campsites are very spacious and offer plenty of privacy. The camp hosts were available and friendly. We had the best time here.
