Tarryall Reservoir Camping Trip

We met some friends by Tarryall Reservoir, which is by Jefferson, Colorado (approximately 1.5 hours from Denver). There were some camping spots at Tarryall, as well as some day-use only spots. We headed back behind the Reservoir about a mile to the National Forest Land, which had plenty of open spaces to dry camp. Fires were banned, as Colorado has been having some horrible forest fires lately. There were some campers back in the forest area, but there was enough room to spread out and not feel too close to each other. Camping was super peaceful and quiet, with some gorgeous views of the mountains. Cell service is very spotty since we were in the middle of nowhere.

We went down to the Reservoir with the pups in the mornings, as this was when the water was at its calmest. This was also Herb’s first time really swimming. We put his little shark life jacket on and coaxed him out there with crackers. He did pretty good, considering the water was a little on the chilly side.

We also tried out our new inflatable paddle board for the first time. It was a blast. After doing lots of research on boards, we purchased the iRocker Inflatable Paddleboard from Amazon . The board is super easy to pump up (the pump was included) and is thick enough that it feels like the hard sided boards. We also like the adjustable paddle, since we are two different heights. You can buy an optional kayak seat to hook into it to make it a kayak as well.

We had been on the look-out for some big wild animals and found a bunch of honey badgers that were just down from our camp spot. The two males had been fighting over the female, with one being victorious and getting to go with the female, while the other was shunned to the forest. It was quite a site to watch. Luckily the badgers did not want anything to do with us at the campsite.

Overall, we really liked the area. It was just a short trip away from home, but felt like you were really far from the hustle and bustle of the City.