A whole town is sitting under this Colorado lake at 9,000 feet

Dillon Reservoir’s drowned history and open water

Dillon Reservoir sits two miles above sea level in Summit County, Colorado, ringed by the Gore Range and Tenmile Range with 26 miles of shoreline wrapping around it.

Most people come for the sailing, the biking, or the fishing. A few come because they know what’s under the water.

The original town of Dillon is down there, flooded on purpose in the early 1960s so Denver could have a drink. The story of how that happened is worth knowing before you go.

The town that moved before it drowned

Dillon started as a trading post in 1881, incorporated in 1883, and moved twice just to stay close to the railroad. Then in the 1950s, Denver Water decided the Blue River Valley was the right place to build a reservoir.

By 1956, residents got the notice: sell your property and be gone by September 1961. Some buildings were physically lifted and hauled to a new hillside site.

More than 300 graves were dug up and moved to a new cemetery. Everything left standing was demolished before the water rose.

What’s really down there below the surface

People love to say a whole town sits frozen beneath Dillon Reservoir, buildings intact and ghostly in the cold water. That’s not what happened.

Workers tore down every structure before flooding began in 1963.

What the water covers now are foundations and old road beds, the bones of a town rather than the town itself. At 3,233 surface acres and over 9,000 feet up, the reservoir looks perfectly natural.

Nothing about it suggests what it replaced. That gap between appearance and history is what makes it worth paying attention to.

Sail out of North America’s highest deep-water marina

The Dillon Marina operates at over 9,000 feet, which makes it the highest deep-water marina on the continent.

You can rent a pontoon boat, a Catalina sailboat, a kayak, a paddleboard, or a canoe and head out onto the reservoir.

The marina runs sailing lessons if you’ve never handled a boat, and guided sunset tours if you’d rather let someone else do the work.

The Dillon Yacht Club races out of here on weekends through the summer, and a water taxi connects Dillon Marina to Frisco Bay Marina if you want to cross the lake instead of driving around it.

Ride 18 miles of pavement straight around the lake

The Recpath loops the entire reservoir on a paved trail roughly 18 miles long, passing through lakeside meadows, pine forest, and up over Swan Mountain.

You can jump on at multiple access points in Dillon, Frisco, or Silverthorne. Over 200,000 trips run on it between May and October each year.

If you don’t want to ride the full loop, the free Summit Stage bus runs stops along most of the route and every bus carries a bike rack, so you can ride one direction and catch a ride back.

Catch the reservoir view from Sapphire Point

Sapphire Point Overlook sits at 9,500 feet on Swan Mountain Road between Keystone and Breckenridge.

A 0.6-mile gravel loop trail moves through the pines and ends at an open platform where the reservoir spreads out below you with the Gore Range and Tenmile Range behind it.

The trail is flat enough for most fitness levels, and there are benches along the way.

It’s also the only spot in the Dillon Ranger District designated for wedding ceremonies, reservable through the U.S. Forest Service. On a weekday morning, you’ll likely have the overlook to yourself.

Cast a line in one of Colorado’s best stocked lakes

Colorado Parks and Wildlife puts about 50,000 rainbow trout into Dillon Reservoir every year.

Brown trout and kokanee salmon live here too, along with Arctic char, which were introduced in the early 1990s and have done well in the cold, deep water.

With 26 miles of shoreline, you can find a stretch with no one else around without much effort. Fishing runs year-round.

Once the reservoir freezes in winter, ice fishing takes over, with local guides running charters starting around mid-November.

Know what the reservoir won’t let you do

Before you pack a swimsuit, note that swimming is banned in Dillon Reservoir. The water sits at drinking water quality for Denver, which drives most of the restrictions.

Even in August, the water barely reaches 65 degrees. Jet skis, water skiing, tubing, and scuba diving are all off the table.

A 2023 rule change did open up wading, so you can stand in the shallows along the shore. Windsurfing is allowed with a full-body wet or dry suit.

The altitude alone makes the cold hit harder than you’d expect.

Free concerts on Monday nights at the amphitheater

The Dillon Amphitheater sits open-air right next to the marina, and on Monday nights through the summer it runs a free weekly concert series called Mountain Music Mondays.

The lineup mixes nationally touring acts with up-and-coming artists across rock, bluegrass, folk, and reggae. Ticketed shows fill out the rest of the season calendar.

The venue went through a renovation in 2017 and has built out its programming every year since. You sit outside with the reservoir behind the stage and the Rockies framing everything above it.

Friday mornings belong to the farmers market

Every Friday from early June through late September, Dillon Town Park fills up with over 100 vendors from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for one of the largest open-air markets in Colorado.

Colorado-grown produce, handcrafted goods, artisan foods, and live music run the full five hours. It’s a no-pet event under health code rules, so leave the dog at the rental.

If you’re staying in Summit County for a week, plan your Friday morning around it. The drive over from Breckenridge or Keystone takes about 15 minutes.

The reservoir in winter belongs to a different crowd

Once ice covers Dillon Reservoir and conditions hold, the Town of Dillon grooms a network of multi-use trails directly on the frozen surface.

You can walk, cross-country ski, skate ski, snowshoe, or fat bike straight across the lake. A free community ice rink runs near the marina.

Four ski resorts sit within about 10 miles: Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Arapahoe Basin. Most people staying at those resorts don’t know about the lake trails.

That’s their loss and your open trail.

Quieter trails away from the main loop

The Old Dillon Reservoir Trail near the dam leads to a smaller reservoir built in the 1930s to supply the original town before it was flooded.

It’s less visited and sits beneath the Tenmile Range and Continental Divide.

The Tenderfoot Mountain Trail runs through sagebrush and lodgepole pine with open views of the reservoir below. The Dillon Nature Preserve has flat gravel paths through meadows and along the lakeshore.

Near the reservoir, there’s also a free 18-hole disc golf course with mountain views, and it almost never has a wait.

Every season brings a completely different lake

Dillon Reservoir doesn’t have an off-season. Summer fills it with sailboats and paddleboards and Friday markets and free concerts.

Fall turns the aspen groves gold against the blue water, and the crowds thin out fast after Labor Day.

Winter puts ice on the surface and groomed trails where the boats used to be, with four ski resorts just down the road. Spring brings snowmelt back into the basin and the first wildflowers along the trails.

Whatever month you show up, the lake is doing something worth seeing.

Visit Lake Dillon in Summit County, Colorado

You can reach Dillon Reservoir about 70 miles west of Denver on Interstate 70.

Take Exit 205 for Silverthorne and Dillon to get to the Dillon Marina at 150 Marina Drive, Dillon, CO 80435. Exit 203 puts you closer to the Frisco Bay Marina.

Boating season runs roughly early June through mid-September.

The free Summit Stage bus connects Dillon, Frisco, Silverthorne, and other Summit County towns year-round and runs bike racks on every bus. Weather changes fast at this elevation, so bring layers even in July.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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