Water Sports
The Three Lakes: Grand Lake; Shadow Mountain and Lake Granby.
Grand Lake, Shadow Mountain Lake and Lake Granby are popular for boating, sailing and fishing. While Grand Lake is a deep glacier-carved, chasm-filled natural lake, Granby and Shadow Mountain are actually man-made reservoirs.*
Granby, the largest of the three lakes, is famous for its mackinaws, rainbows, browns and kokanee salmon, and is popular in the winter for ice fishing. Shadow Mountain and Grand Lake are connected by a natural outlet used as a boat channel. Together the three lakes offer more than 150 miles of scenic shoreline for camping, fishing or hiking. All three lakes have marinas, docks and boat rentals. Highland Marina, eight miles north of Granby, has docks, moorings and a convenience store. Grand Lake Sports rents canoes and sit-a top sea-kayaks.
Can kids drive boats without a license?
Anyone operating a motorboat on Colorado waters must be at least 16 years old. Teens, 14-16 years of age, can operate a motorboat if they first complete an approved boating safety course.
*As a reservoir, water is stored in Lake Granby and pumped into Shadow Mountain. It flows by gravity into Grand Lake, then through the thirteen-mile Adams Tunnel under the Continental Divide to a power plant at Estes Park. From Estes Park the water flows into the Big Thompson River where the water is finally delivered, through a system of siphons, canals and reservoirs, to the northeastern cities and farmlands of Colorado.
