James M. Robb Colorado River State Park

Here’s the latest from Greg (our field photographer visiting Colorado):

About a 20 mile drive from Highline Lake, you will come upon Grand Junction and this State Park, which will be referred to from now on as “Jimmy”.

Jimmy spreads across a 40 mile section of the Colorado River. It is book ended by the two campgrounds, Fruita and Island Acres, and has several day use areas in between.

Fruita Campground is first. It was opened in 2000 and features a Visitor Center, camping, picnicking, fishing, swimming and launch site for boaters and rafters into the Colorado River. Below are some photos from Fruita. They are: Sign, Beach, Launch Ramp, and a typical Campsite:

I continued along Interstate 70 through Grand Junction to Island Acres, my camping destination.

As the Colorado River and other erosional forces shaped this canyon, a large island was left in the middle of the river. A dike built in the ’50s eliminated the true island characteristics, but left a neat campground with several little lakes. The day use area around these lakes is very popular for swimming and fishing. Below are some photos from Island Acres. They are: Sign, one of the Lakes, the Swim Beach, the Colorado River, and my Campsite:

The river is just behind my tent at this walk-in campsite.

My next stop is Crawford State Park about 80 miles away, but I might not stay there. It is about the same elevation as this one and Highline Lake, and the temperature has been in the 90’s at these campgrounds. I want forests and cool temps! Luckily, Crawford is one of a couple of campgrounds for which I did not make a reservation. My stop after Crawford is Vega and on the way between the two my route climbs up to the Grand Mesa. There are several nice sounding Forest Service campgrounds up there at over 10,000 feet in elevation. So I will probably take photos at Crawford and then go camp in the mountains for two days before I go to Vega. I will let you know what happens.

Regards, Park Ranger