Karval Reservoir State Wildlife Area

First, we didn't note Campendium's notice at the top of this entry about the fish and wildlife permit while were looking for options in the area. It wasn't until we were arriving and double checking instructions for where the camp spots are that we noted it.

And after researching it even further - we discovered that for non-CO residents like us who don't already have an annual pass, that to stay one night here technically you need to purchase TWO days passes (one for each day onsite) for EACH person over 16 (not 18, as Compendium indicates) in your RV.

For us, that would have been nearly $80. For one single overnight stay for two people.

Not that we're against paying our fair share and we do understand the intention behind the permit requirement. But the permit costs for an overnight stay didn't seem overly fair or well documented onsite. There were absolutely no signs about the permit requirement anywhere in the park, so we opted to risk it and play dumb if approached (we weren't).

Next, the clearly marked camping spots with pavallions are at the top of the hill to your left off the entry road. It's a pretty steep hill, but do-able. Except when you get to the top was VERY rutted. We actually lost traction in our van (not a 4x4) and had to back up a bit and try again. There is some room for parking if you stay to the right on the other side of the damn - but it had heavy vegetation and wasn't very level.

On the way out, we actually scrapped bottom on our van and damaged the battery box - albeit, ours isn't the highest of clearance either. A higher clearance RV would have no problem with this.

The spot is extremely gorgeous and peaceful and tranquil once in. There was another van when we arrived, but they left soon after. A few cars visiting the area. Some hiking available, but not much else to do here. We did get around 20 Mbps down on both AT&T and T-Mobile.

There are 2 sites with shelter at the top with a pit toilet and more pullouts where you can stay down below near the reservoir. There were 2 other RVs, but we were really spread apart so everyone had lots of privacy.

I imagine the summers are probably pretty brutal... but the weather was perfect in early May albeit a little muddy.

Well we are always in search of st least a T-Mobile data signal and some isolation. We found it.

There’s one shelter at the bottom of the hill before you turn up the road toward the pit toilet, I did not notice a fire ring.

Up by the pit toilet are 2 more shelters. Only one had a fire ring. The one overlooking the lake is the one we chose (shelter #3) is the o e without a fire ring.

There are no tables under the shelters. Seemed odd to me. The pit toilet is very clean and well maintained.

Very wi day here. Looks like desert with tumbleweeds and yuccas.

No one else in sight.

There is zero Verizon service here.

This small but pretty wildlife area is not the easiest to find and not very close to . . . well, anything. But we like that.

Arrival at night in the rain was hairy. The entrance off CR-31 is marked with a non-reflective metal and timber sign that's easy to miss (and we did). There was firm sandy roadbed at the entrance and also on a left-hand turnoff that parallels the reservoir spillway and leads uphill to 2 campsites. But that turnoff was easy to miss in the dark (and we did). We literally slid our 24' TT down a muddy grade into the boat ramp turnaround and called it a night. (Photos show our rig there.)

When the roads dried out in the morning, we relocated to the designated camping area: nice gravel pull-throughs with vault toilet and fire ring. The sites and toilet were well-kept and clean. We had the reservoir to ourselves all weekend except for one car in the distance. A very pleasant Parks & Wildlife Ranger checked in at mid-day. He indicated that the reservoir is currently without fish (spring 2018) after two unsuccessful attempts to stock it this year.

The children liked messing around by the water and hiking the nearby trails. We counted 12 different bird species, plus several more we couldn't identify. We saw tracks from antelope and raccoon. This SWA is mentioned a couple times on the Internet as a great "dark site" for stargazing. No Sprint coverage.

Some Internet sources say that a Colorado Habitat Stamp is needed to stay in a State Wildlife Area. That is automatically included with a Colorado hunting or fishing license - see http://cpw.state.co.us/buyapply/Pages/HabitatStamp.aspx