john martin reservoir state park

The "stepchild" term was given to me by another camper. It was referring to the maintenance of the men's room in the Hasty campground. 2/3 sinks didn't work and some other things (urinal, etc) didn't work and so it showed some neglect. Maybe the maintenance guys are off this week.but overall, the park is for SE Colorado and really only covers a very small part of the reservoir... the Northeastern section above the dam. other than the men's room.. the fishing was slow.. as the reservoir is really low and Hasty Lake is fished out. Otherwise, the park is really nice and the campgrounds have a lot of shade for a really hot area.. even in August. The entire park is really clean.The staff is excellent.. from the ranger guys in the office.. to the boat inspector... all who knows the best places to fish. They are genuinely good people.. with a good sense of humor to boot. So where did I go fishing? I actually went out of the park and over the dam to the South side, where there is a dirt (really sand and rock base) road. Though the catfish bite at night, make sure you have high clearance vehicle - OR - know the roads. some parts get bad and it's hard to turn around. If you work your way to the lake.. you will find a good place to park and where several other anglers have been.. so you know you have the right spot. (If you go at night, there is a bonus.. the kangaroo rat - something you don't see very often - is all over the place there and it's fun to watch them hop around all over the place.) Back at the park.. there is a nice place to clean fish.. in working order too. If you have a second, while you're there, stop at "Red Shin" rock and read the story.. lol.. kinda funny and unusual spot and name for an outcropping of rocks. It's a good, basic park. $16 for primitive camping (tents) .. $20 for electric. Get worms and ice just north of park in Hasty.. none of that at park. Lamar 30 miles to east has gas, internet (McDonalds), etc. Las Animas has supplies. La Junta, 30 mies west, has same as Lamar.

Stayed here with our RV in July 2014. This was a great place to stay. The park itself is out in the middle of nowhere but it is a great place to camp. The staff is very friendly and helpful. The sites are pristine and very spacious. There are like 8 sites that are on the water which are amazing. We were here during the week and had our pick of sites. Not sure what it is like on the weekends. Like other reviewers have stated, try to avoid sites 1-29 as there is no tree coverage. This place only has electricity. No water or sewer, however, there are water stations around the campground and a nice dump station. Never saw the showers but there was a nice laundry room. This was a great place to unwind and enjoy the solitude.

My friends and I have always loved coming to this place which is out in the Southeast boonies of Colorado. The campground is certainly nice enough with lots of space and some good sites by the little lake. We have noticed, though, over the years a bit of a decline in some areas. Today we noticed in the main shower building that the door on the mens side wouldn't close and the womens side needs some TLC, too. The info posters on the outside are also very tired and could use some cleaning up and general maintenance. We also question why the visitor center is so small and featurelss compared to others such as Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg. Certainly we are not at a place like this to shop but at least a small gift shop would be nice. Travelers should know that there are very few services around here other than a tiny grocery store on Highway 50 - so stock up in Las Animas or Lamar before coming in.There is no big scenery around here either - so plan on making the park itself your main activity. One other good thing here is that there are a few geocaches around the area and this is fun for us, too. If you want to get way from the city and have some space - then this is the place to come.

Plenty of room to spread out here! We were very pleased with the space between campsites. Avoid campsites 1-29, as they are on the edge of the campground with no tree cover. The rest of the campground has nice mature trees for plenty of shade! There was only downside we experienced - there are many, many flies all around. This was unfortunate, but certainly didn't ruin our stay. If you want some space to spread out, this is where you want to be!

We enjoyed our stay at Hasty. Most of the sites are large and wooded but here's what you need to know: sites 1-29 have almost no shade of any kind! We had inadvertently booked into one of those but they were able to move us to a great spot that was prime real estate -- lakeside (spots 31-38). We didn't walk the whole trail but we walked around the lakes at the campground every night and it was a good walk. Lots of birds, ducks, turtles. We fished in the lake using our inflatable boat and caught many wipers -- excellent eating. Staff was friendly and accommodating.

My husband and I wanted to go camping in state over the weekend. Lake Hasty at John Martin Reservoir is only about 1 1/2 hours from Pueblo, so we set out. The campground has tree cover in most places and is very clean. Campsites are the largest I have seen. The fishing wasn't good when we went; the ranger said the birds had wiped them out, although the state does stock the reservoir and Lake Hasty. Most campers we spoke to said the spillway over by the dam is better for fishing than the lake itself.

The Dam is Huge! Not much water behind it but I'll bet it has held back a lot of water in it's day! The campgrounds down below and the seperate little lake are first class for reservoir areas! Paved Roads everywhere! Very Clean! We drove right down to the spilway below the Dam and You get a sense of how big this thing is! A Fisherman told Me they catch Wipers, I have no idea what the heck that is?

Es un lugar magnifico para pescar, tranquilo y en varias zonas los lugareños te apoyaran diviendote cual es el mejor lugar, es sumamente grande y tranquilo, tambien podras recorrer sus tuneles por donde llegaras a la cortina de la presa es inolvidable.