Cottonwood Lake is a smaller mountain lake outside Buena Vista, Colorado. A short drive from town and a relatively smooth dirt road takes you up as you climb toward the lake and pass through an Aspen and Pine tree forest. Alongside the road is a creek surrounded by downed logs and no camping allowed. Once you arrive, the lake has many areas you can set up for fishing and kayaking, or you can continue up the trail to find one of the many open campsites.
How far is Cottonwood Lake from Buena Vista?
Once you have made it to Buena Vista it’s only another 10 miles to get to the lake which takes about 20-25 minutes. This is going to be your best opportunity to stop for any additional food or supplies needed. This will also be the last area with reliable cell service. Once you get to the lake there is no more service.
Half of this drive will be on a paved road as you make your way out of town west as County Road 306, also known as the Cottonwood Pass road. Stay on this road for about 6 miles then turn left at County Road 344 for about 3 miles. The turn off at 344 turns into a dirt road, but it’s well maintained and any car with normal clearance will be fine.
Cottonwood Lake
Cottonwood Lake is roughly 1/4 miles east of the paid campground and sits at 9,559′. Hand-propelled boats and canoes are the only watercraft permitted. They do periodically stock this lake and you can find when they last did by checking out the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Stock Report.
You can expect to find most anglers here bait casting, spin casting, fly fishing, and still fishing.
There are a ton of fishing spots alongside the road on your way in. However, if you’re willing to walk the trail around the lake just a bit, you are sure to find some better options with a little more privacy.
If you would rather try your luck in a stream head down to the South Fork of Cottonwood Creek. The creek can be accessed by walking directly south of the campground or by driving west on 344 for about .5 miles.
Fish species:
Cottonwood Lake Campground & Dispersed Camping
There are 2 options when camping near Cottonwood Lake. The first is the Cottonwood Lake Campground which has a $24 nightly fee. It’s often used by large RVs. These sites are first-come first-serve and are the closest to the lake. The second is going just a bit past the campground and finding one of the many dispersed camping sites. These sites are also first-come first-serve but are free.
Staying at the paid campground gives you quick access to the lakes 2 Toilets and Water. You can still use these toilets if you are not staying at a paid site. Water from here is not available for RVs and it’s recommended to fill those up in Buena Vista.
Dispersed camping is the recommended option due to the seemingly endless sites and added privacy. The road continues up the creek that feeds the lake. There are options on both sides of the road with a few exceptions of spots that are off limits while they regrow vegetation.
This road does start to get more and more rough as you continue up. I have been able to get my old Subaru Impreza pretty far up, but it came with some body damage and a new funny noise. Any SUV will do fine.
3.5 miles past the lake you will hit Green Timber Gulch that has a small parking lot on the left and contains the trailhead. There are campsites here, but camping on the other side of the bridge has been closed recently. If you made it to this point and still don’t have a campsite, there are still a ton more as you continue up the road.
Check out these tips to picking the best campsite.