If you plan on visiting Ridgeway State Park, you’re going to have an amazing time while you’re there! This park is one of the most beloved in the nation and has a variety of fun and engaging activities that should keep you and your family excited while visiting. If you’re planning on coming to Colorado to check out the park, here’s what you need to know about the many activities in and around the park and the ways you can enjoy this park in any way you want.

The Fun of Ridgway Park

Ridgeway State Park is located in Ridgeway, Colorado, and is known as a leader in conservation, outdoor recreation, and much more throughout the region. Its unique array of activities and outdoor exercises make it the kind of place that people come to from all around the nation. If you’re interested in visiting here, it’s important to know all about the many activities that you can practice here. These include a myriad of things like:

• Camping throughout the year, even in the winter if you use tents, RVs, and Yurts
• Wildlife activities like fishing, hiking, watching animals, and even bird watching
• Enjoy fun camping experiences with your family and friends to get the best experience possible
• Try out various group activities that are held by park rangers every year
• Visit the Blue Heron Marina to put your boat in and check out the lake
• Enjoy TrackChair and Adaptive Program activities designed for people in wheelchairs
• Volunteer to help around the park, including cleaning up and helping with campers
• Winter activities like ice climbing, snowshoeing, skiing, and much more
• Walk along the many unique and engaging trails to check out the beauty of Colorado

Some of the most fun activities in this park include fishing, which can be done in abundance wherever you visit! There are many lakes filled with great fish that will always put up a strong fight! If you plan on fishing here, make sure that you talk with the park officials to learn more about licensing needs, and they can set you up if you need to get a fishing license before you start.

Fish You Can Catch Here

If you love fishing, then you need to come to Ridgway State Park because their reservoir is filled with many fish species that you’ll love catching. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular in the lake and give you an idea of how easy or hard they’ll be to catch:

• Rainbow Trout: Usually quite easy to catch throughout the lake and often very willing to bite baits like worms, spinners, black wooly buggers, and imitation crawfish
• Brown Trout: Focused around the west shore and near the dam and usually easier to catch in the early spring, late fall, and ice out on bats like large plugs or spoon
• Smallmouth Bass: Ridgeway State Park asks that you keep every smallmouth bass you catch to help manage their population, typically focused near rocky shorelines and are happy to strike small plastic crayfish, worms, curly tails, and tubes

The Legend of the $10,000 Fish!

If you love fishing and want to make money, here’s something you might not know: you could win real money when you visit Ridgway State Park! There’s been before a tournament in the park in July through August that includes a tagged fish that, if you catch it, will net you $10,000! You can also win other prizes, including $5,000 for catching the most fish during the tournament.

The goal of this tournament is to help handle excessive fish in the lakes and to encourage outdoor experiences for the area. Anyone over 16 with a fishing license can compete, and no registration fee is levied against you if you compete. That makes this fishing tournament a very sought-after one that is a legend among people who come to the area every summer!

Things To Do Around the Park

If you’re staying in Ridgway, there are many more things to do, even if you’re not visiting the park. Some fun activities around Ridgeway State Park include:

• Stand-up paddle board rentals that you can take around the park
• Private climbing tours with guided professionals
• Ice climbing throughout the local ice park
• A fun scavenger hunt for you and your children
• Last Dollar Road, which is a fun and exciting trip
• Dennis Weaver Memorial Park near Ridgway
• Ridgway cannabis dispensary just down the road in Ridgway proper if you enjoy legal recreational marijuana

Have Fun at Ridgway State Park!

As you can see, Ridgway State Park provides a lot of fun and engaging activities that should give you the help you need to have fun. There are so many things to do that you might have a hard time choosing which are the most fun! So make sure you plan your visits carefully and take your time enjoying each activity to ensure that your family doesn’t get worn out.