Hasty, Colorado

by Danielle Simone

The Stilling Basin is shallow and calm this early November sunrise. A lone Blue Heron stands in the water, hoping for breakfast.

Pelicans share the water at the reservoir with ducks, grebes, geese and gulls. Today, they seem to revel in the water…that is not yet ice.

Fall colors fill the Lake Hasty Campground in a perfect reflection.

The Arkansas runs low and quiet as it leaves the park, it too, showing fall colors along it’s banks.

From atop Red Shin Standing Ground, the dam stands on guard over an empty campground.

The shallow Stilling Basin holds a mixture of reflection and rocky reality. Normally a churning mixture of foam and water, it stands quiet in the fall. The Corps of Engineers is not releasing water. The reservoir holds only 23,400 cubic feet of water today.

Are you looking for a place to recreate? The weather is lovely, 60 degrees or so for the rest of the week. Charge your camera battery; pack your picnic basket; grab your hiking shoes. John Martin Dam is waiting with beauty, quiet, sunshine and plentiful wildlife…camera-ready.

Enjoy the fall season on the high plains of southeast Colorado…at John Martin Dam.