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Frisco Rowing Center recently hosted a regatta for rowers and paddlers. Early on a Sunday morning graceful rowing shells and kayaks glided on tranquil waters in competition to see who might be the fastest in their category. The regatta was touted as being the “Highest, Most Scenic Regatta in North America. At 9,017, I do not know of any higher rowing regattas. Our club motto is: “Take your rowing to the highest level” Rob and I have rowed in at least a dozen lakes around Colorado and I must say the scenery looking from every direction on Dillon Reservoir is really one of the best. You can sit in the middle of the reservoir and look 360 degrees and see different mountain ranges. Looking west you see the Tenmile Range. My favorite is looking east in the early morning sunrise and early morning light and seeing layers of mountains silhouetted including the Fourteeners Greys and Torreys.
We visit on our rows on a regular basis a couple of Osprey nests, and at both we recently caught sigh of the heads of chicks above their nest of twigs. Osprey parents do an amazing job of constructing their nests to withstand the sometimes vicious winds we get here. I have seen them use the water to help carry a large branch to the nest. They will fly low enough to let the branch partially float on the water and pull it along until they get to the tree then, lift it up to the nest. You will see the male perched high on the top of a tree, sitting still, like a statue for long periods of time. Magpies like to hang around the Osprey nests chattering and flitting around the tree. Besides a fairly large population of Canada Geese, we see mallards, mergansers, gulls, sandpipers, pelicans, swallows, eagles and great blue herons. There is a large Bbeaver “house” not really a dam, at the edge of an inlet in the middle of an Island. You can see fishermen just about any time of the day and almost year round on and along the shores of the reservoir fishing for trout: rainbows, brook and browns and Kokanee and Coho salmon. I often see the splash of fish jumping as we row around the lake.
Completed in September 1963, Dillon Reservoir is the largest water storage facility in the Denver Water system. The entire town of Dillon, and a hydroelectric plant were relocated to build the dam so the old town is “under” the reservoir. The dam was built to divert water from the Blue River Basin through the Harold D. Roberts Tunnel under the Continental Divide into the South Platte River Basin. Dillon Reservoir has a surface area of 3,233 acres and 26.8 miles of shoreline.
One of our local Native American singers, Leon Littlebird has songs about the reservoir, one whose title is translated “Where the Blue Water Meets the Sky” and another about the building of Dillon Dam. He remembers the old town of Dillon before the dam and the reservoir. Dillon Reservoir is certainly enjoyed by many, especially boaters, fishermen, bikers and campers. The reservoir is also a magnificent backdrop for the Dillon Amphitheatre where you can listen to music and watch the sun set on often turning the water crimson. A breathtaking sight!
Dr. Joanne Stolen is retired from Rutgers University where she taught microbiology. Her scientific interests are in emerging infectious diseases and environmental pollution. She lives in Breckenridge.
We visit on our rows on a regular basis a couple of Osprey nests, and at both we recently caught sigh of the heads of chicks above their nest of twigs. Osprey parents do an amazing job of constructing their nests to withstand the sometimes vicious winds we get here. I have seen them use the water to help carry a large branch to the nest. They will fly low enough to let the branch partially float on the water and pull it along until they get to the tree then, lift it up to the nest. You will see the male perched high on the top of a tree, sitting still, like a statue for long periods of time. Magpies like to hang around the Osprey nests chattering and flitting around the tree. Besides a fairly large population of Canada Geese, we see mallards, mergansers, gulls, sandpipers, pelicans, swallows, eagles and great blue herons. There is a large Bbeaver “house” not really a dam, at the edge of an inlet in the middle of an Island. You can see fishermen just about any time of the day and almost year round on and along the shores of the reservoir fishing for trout: rainbows, brook and browns and Kokanee and Coho salmon. I often see the splash of fish jumping as we row around the lake.
Completed in September 1963, Dillon Reservoir is the largest water storage facility in the Denver Water system. The entire town of Dillon, and a hydroelectric plant were relocated to build the dam so the old town is “under” the reservoir. The dam was built to divert water from the Blue River Basin through the Harold D. Roberts Tunnel under the Continental Divide into the South Platte River Basin. Dillon Reservoir has a surface area of 3,233 acres and 26.8 miles of shoreline.
One of our local Native American singers, Leon Littlebird has songs about the reservoir, one whose title is translated “Where the Blue Water Meets the Sky” and another about the building of Dillon Dam. He remembers the old town of Dillon before the dam and the reservoir. Dillon Reservoir is certainly enjoyed by many, especially boaters, fishermen, bikers and campers. The reservoir is also a magnificent backdrop for the Dillon Amphitheatre where you can listen to music and watch the sun set on often turning the water crimson. A breathtaking sight!
Dr. Joanne Stolen is retired from Rutgers University where she taught microbiology. Her scientific interests are in emerging infectious diseases and environmental pollution. She lives in Breckenridge.
