Standley Lake Regional Park & Wildlife Refuge — Attraction in Westminster

This lake was my utopia, my zen garden, my happy place. Then they found something in the water at the same time the 470 highway project got shut down do to finding unsafe radioactive materials in the ground. Not far from the lake. Then a sad excuse like. Zebra mussels and lies to the public about cost of maintenance if by some chance the lake does get them. Not even a public vote was offered. Finding out the man/woman behind the curtain is a city employee with a salary of $390,000 a year and doesn’t even live in Colorado. The boats came together and offered multiple solutions on how keep the so called aquatic nuisance out. Many which where based from the city’s own expert speaker’s only way to keep a infestation from occurring. They originally claimed multiple boaters were breaking the rules. That caused 550 people to lose their lake. When asked for information on the case so retributions could be sought after. All the information on the violations disappeared. Now driving by the lake in the summertime is just depressing. Like a ghost town a giant body of water that no one can swim in or have fun on. Why is Standley the only reservoir that You can’t swim, boat or even walk...

4 stars for lack of more electric hookup sites and no swimming. Great location for lots to do otherwise and there is a pool within a mile of here

We camped here for 2 nights with our 5th wheel camper. It's a really beautiful park with an amazing view of the Rockies. They had goats grazing while we were there as part of a nature initiative to clear weeds. The lake does not allow swimming, and the campground although it has really nice pull through camp sites with picnic tables and a fire pit, only provides 3 spots that can be rented with electric and water hook up. Generators are allowed but cannot be over 30db.

There is opportunity for lots of paddle boarding, kayaking, and boating but you have to have your boat properly inspected and sanitized because of zebra mussels. Plan to do that in advance. You also need to have a permit to boat, board or kayak here. Check their website for more details.

They have a nature center which is an additional interesting place to visit while here, and you can always take wonderful walks with the gorgeous views.

This campground is 1.5 hr drive from Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park. (I included some photos...

Exceptionally bureaucratic and user unfriendly policies & staff.

First, they make you inflate paddle boards so that they can spray them off to prevent invasive species contamination. The spraying location is not at the boat launch, which makes for a unpacking and re-packing situation hassle.

Second, they have a policy of no refunds for rentals or daily paddling passes when the weather turns foul. I paid $10 for a daily pass and $10 for a rental and then literally 5 minutes later they were telling people not to enter the water because of high winds. The winds were high. I didn't want to go out either. But when they told me they wouldn't give me my money back, even though I hadn't even picked up the rental yet, I was tempted to risk it. They seriously need to rethink the "no refunds for bad weather" policy. If safety is the priority, then encourage safe decisions by offering people their money back for foul weather. Or even a credit to use a different, calmer day. That is what a well run, vistor-centered operation would do. The staff here are more concerned with potential zebra muscle infestations than...