Ridgway State Park — Attraction in Montrose

Ridgway State Park is a fantastic destination for anyone who enjoys natural beauty and outdoor recreation. Located in beautiful Southwestern Colorado, it offers visitors spectacular views of the towering mountains and pristine waters of the lake.

The park boasts a plethora of activities to cater to any recreational interest one might have, from boating to fishing and hiking. The trails in the park are well-maintained offering adventure seekers a challenging hike into the beautiful Colorado wilderness. There's something for everyone here, and people of all ages will find something that they love.

One notable feature in the park is the Ridgway Reservoir. It is a beautiful large body of water that is excellent for boating, paddleboarding and kayaking. Fishing is as well a popular activity at the park, with a range of fish species such as rainbow trout and kokanee salmon available for aspiring anglers to catch.

There are several picnic spots in the park, making it a perfect place for families and groups of friends that want to spend a day relaxing outdoors while taking in the game and the fantastic mountain scenery.

Despite being a state park, the park facilities are in great condition, with well-maintained trails, clean picnic areas, modern and clean restrooms, and a well-organized campground. The park has plenty of amenities, including electrical hookups for RV camping, tents camping areas, and cabins available to rent.

Ridgway State Park is a also an excellent destination for anyone looking for an accessible outdoor experience. The park's facilities have been designed to ensure that everyone, regardless of their mobility or accessibility needs, can access all that the park has to offer.

For starters, some of the park trails, restrooms, and campsites have been designed with accessibility in mind for visitors with disabilities. The park has several trails with smooth and level surface that are perfect for wheelchair-users or visitors with mobility aids. There are accessible parking spaces and signs that make it easy to identify designated parking areas, ensuring that the park is welcoming to anyone that requires parking with special accommodation.

Apart from the trails, the park also offers an accessible campsite with an accessible ramp that allows visitors in wheelchairs to pitch tents safely. The restroom facilities in the campsites have widened entryways as well as individual toilet and shower stalls that meet the required ADA guidelines. Finally, visitors with mobility needs can also enjoy the accessible picnic tables along the trail, reserve one of the available picnic pavilions, or utilize the modified wheelchair on site designed to conquer land and water.

Overall, Ridgway State Park is one of the most accessible state parks in Colorado. It rightly recognizes that ensuring everyone can enjoy the park is essential, and it goes over and above in ensuring the safety, comfort, and accessibility needs of all visitors are met. The park's accessibility features make it an incredible spot for anyone living with a disability or mobility impairment to enjoy the stunning natural surroundings of Colorado.

Finally, the park's proximity to the towns of Ouray, Ridgway and Telluride adds convenience to the experience. Overall, Ridgway State Park is an excellent destination for anyone looking to escape into the beautiful natural Colorado wilderness for some adventure or a relaxing day out in nature. With a lot of activities to enjoy, fantastic views, and top-notch amenities, it is a destination you won't...

Excuse the long rant but I am pretty appalled by the way this state park official handled this situation today..The park rangers are rude! I grew up going to this park wether it was for camping or to swim in the lake and never have I ever experienced a ranger so out to get the people who are there to enjoy their time. It's late in the year and the lake is pretty low which is to be expected...we ventured outside the ropes where the designated swim area is to enjoy floating in the water and get away from all the kids splashing in the water...now keep in mind the lake is very low at this point in time due to drainage...so at the deepest part of the swim area it still barely reached my chest...we were only about 20ft or so on the other side of the ropes in sturdy tubes that we have taken on the river...not those flimsy plastic pool floaties....also keep in mind that it was me, my mom, and boyfriend who are all adults, not drinking or under any sort of influence, and sitting in our floatation devices in the water. Not being disruptive just enjoying the sun and water. A couple of park rangers come up to us in their boat and proceed to read us the right act on how our floatation devices were not safe and asked if we had life jackets with us. We did not as A.the water was not that deep and B. There was not any boats in the area that we were in...she proceeded to harass us and read us all the state park "laws" we were breaking....now I don't know about anyone else but I am not a lawyer nor do I read state park rule/law books in my free time...so we unfortunately were unaware of the fact that our tubes needed to have more than one chamber to inflate and that we needed to have a life jacket readily available...I understand that safety is important but what happened next really floored me...the ranger proceeded to have us follow her to the beach area in her boat and she began to write us a citation "ticket" for not having a life jacket. Other bystanders stood by while this happened and 30 minutes later after the ranger had left and we received a ticket costing us 50$, other swimmers were shocked and agreed that a warning would have sufficed. We were not causing any trouble and honestly were unaware that a life jacket was required beyond a certain point. About an hour or so later another person came up on the beach after being out on her paddle board (without a life jacket) and a different park ranger approached her and politely asked her where her life jacket was...unfortunate she did not have one and the ranger proceeded to let her go with a warning...after this experience I will not be returning to this park or swim beach...it is unfortunate that you have employees that feel the need to harass people who are just there trying to enjoy their time with...

I was so confused when we came here like is this Grand Mesa? No this is Blue Mesa. Like where am I? All these half-drained reservoirs are bleeding together in my mind.

But it was a lovely stop on our trip and the lady who worked at the ticket booth was the sweetest little old lady. You can tell that she was so excited for every visitor like it's almost as if you're visiting her house and she is so happy to show you like you're going to like it here. She was so cute.

I actually wanted to stop and use the restroom. Thankfully due to the new Colorado Beautiful passes or whatever they're called for the registration I did have free (already paid) access to the park. And the restrooms were sparkling clean. It was so nice because I usually stop at rest stops on road trips and they are often NOT sparkling clean lmao. So this was a pleasant surprise.

And it was fun to walk along the dried out lake bed. Sadly due to climate change we are going to have more and more dried out lake beds to explore.

There was a big bird, I am not a bird watcher so I don't know what it was, I'm guessing a blue heron. But it was cool because it was chilling pretty close by to us and just seemed so relaxed. I made sure my daughter didn't walk towards it with the dog because I didn't want to ruin its rest. It's always cool to get up close and personal with wildlife though. That is one of my favorite things about visiting our state and national parks.

It's a very large park with ample space to spread out. I did see one other visitor who kind of went out of his way to cross our path, he was excited to see someone else to say hi to I think haha. That was pretty cute as well. I think everyone at Ridgeway has an extra dose of friendliness. Something about the sun and the sky maybe.

I would recommend it and I...