Late afternoon sun over Slim Lake, scattering a bright path across wind-textured water

40 lakes with water-quality readings within 4 hr of downtown

Driving from Denver to a lake worth swimming in

Chatfield Reservoir is the closest lake with water-quality readings to Denver, 35 min away. That is unusual: the closest lake is also the one with the most favourable readings within reach, so there is no tradeoff to make here.

Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and each links to its own water-quality readings. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.

Closest water

Chatfield Reservoir

35 min

18.4 road miles · Jefferson County, CO

The shortest drive on this page.

Closest clear, low-nutrient water

Chatfield Reservoir

35 min

18.4 road miles · Jefferson County, CO

Also the closest lake of any kind.

Closest public access

Chatfield Reservoir

35 min

18.4 road miles · Jefferson County, CO

A boat landing or launch point is on the record for this lake.

Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder

40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Denver. 13 of them have clear, low-nutrient readings. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Wyoming, Nebraska. The furthest entry is North Sterling Reservoir at 2 hr 53 min.

Drive	Lake	Road miles	County	Size	Access
35 min	Chatfield Reservoir	18.4	Jefferson County, CO	1,150 ac	✓ Public
49 min	Union Reservoir	36.8	Weld County, CO	717 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 2 min	Horse Creek Outlet Lake	35.6	Weld County, CO	712 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 3 min	Prospect Lake	43.6	Weld County, CO	398 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 7 min	Boyd Lake	51.9	Larimer County, CO	1,747 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 10 min	Windsor Lake	57.7	Weld County, CO	197 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 11 min	Lon Hagler Reservoir	55.2	Larimer County, CO	201 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 25 min	Prospect Lake	70.7	El Paso County, CO	51 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 33 min	Douglas Reservoir	72.7	Larimer County, CO	565 ac	✓ Public
1 hr 43 min	Dillon Reservoir	74	Summit County, CO	3,300 ac	Not recorded
1 hr 50 min	Lake Absarraca	101.6	Laramie County, WY	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 54 min	Sloans Lake	102.1	Laramie County, WY	Not recorded	✓ Public
1 hr 59 min	Hereford Reservoir	107.8	Laramie County, WY	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 4 min	Green Mountain Reservoir	92.9	Summit County, CO	2,125 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 5 min	Rampart Reservoir	87.8	El Paso County, CO	300 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 9 min	Sky Pond Hypolimnion	77.6	Larimer County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 9 min	The Loch Hypolimnion Lake	77.6	Larimer County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 9 min	The Loch Surface Lake	77.6	Larimer County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 15 min	Windy Gap Reservoir	88.7	Grand County, CO	108 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 17 min	Turquoise Reservoir	105.4	Lake County, CO	1,788 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 20 min	Jackson Reservoir	81.4	Morgan County, CO	2,427 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 24 min	Wolford Mountain Reservoir	109.1	Grand County, CO	1,550 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 25 min	Dowdy Lake	110.8	Larimer County, CO	83 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 26 min	Willow Creek Reservoir	93.6	Grand County, CO	303 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 28 min	Crystal Reservoir	119.3	Laramie County, WY	136 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 29 min	South Crow Reservoir	119.6	Laramie County, WY	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 30 min	Pueblo Reservoir	122.2	Pueblo County, CO	5,671 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 31 min	Shadow Mountain Lake	97.8	Grand County, CO	1,852 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 31 min	Antero Reservoir	106.2	Park County, CO	3,446 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 33 min	Lake Granby Dam Bottom	92.7	Grand County, CO	7,260 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 33 min	Granite Springs Reservoir	121.6	Laramie County, WY	190 ac	✓ Public
2 hr 35 min	Lower North Crow Reservoir	120.8	Laramie County, WY	0 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 38 min	Elevenmile Reservoir	114.7	Park County, CO	Not recorded	✓ Public
2 hr 40 min	Twin Lakes East	120.5	Lake County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 40 min	Twin Lakes West	121.6	Lake County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 40 min	Twin Lake West Lower	121.6	Lake County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 42 min	Grand Lake	102.4	Grand County, CO	Not recorded	Not recorded
2 hr 47 min	Upper North Crow Reservoir	128.1	Laramie County, WY	94 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 48 min	Oliver Reservoir	154.9	Kimball County, NE	264 ac	Not recorded
2 hr 53 min	North Sterling Reservoir	142.5	Logan County, CO	2,880 ac	✓ Public

What the numbers are, and are not

Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Denver to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.

Each lake’s water-quality readings, phosphorus, nitrogen, chlorophyll-a and turbidity measured over years by state and federal agencies, are on its own page. They describe the lake’s record; they do not clear the water for a particular afternoon, and they say nothing about the beach, the boat ramp or the view. Lakes with no nutrient or algae reading on record are not listed here, because the water is the only axis this page ranks on.

Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.

More lakes near Denver

All Colorado lakes

Counties and measurement records statewide

Drive-time pages for other cities

The same tradeoff, measured from each metro

Nearby cities

From Salt Lake City

Nearest clear water: 29 min

From Omaha

Nearest clear water: 1 hr 6 min

From Kansas City

Nearest clear water: 21 min

From Oklahoma City

Nearest clear water: 3 hr 56 min

From Des Moines

Nearest clear water: 17 min

From Phoenix

Nearest clear water: 25 min

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Chatfield Reservoir in Jefferson County, Colorado. Its nutrient and algae readings are among the most favourable within reach, and the drive is 35 min, or 18.4 road miles. It is also the closest lake of any kind with readings on record.

Not longer at all. The closest lake to Denver is also the closest one with clear, low-nutrient water, so the cleaner water costs no extra driving.

12 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Chatfield Reservoir, 35 min away. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.

By road, from downtown Denver to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.

No. The readings summarise years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements; they describe the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions overnight. Whether a lake is safe to swim in is a call for the state water agency and the county health department: check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.

Stay by the water, not by the highway

Cabins, hotels and rentals around Chatfield Reservoir in Jefferson County, the closest lake to Denver with the most favourable readings in range. 35 min from downtown.

Top-rated places to stay near Chatfield Reservoir

Prices for Oct 16–18, 4 adults. Change dates on the map below.

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