Turquoise Lake, formerly known as Sugarloaf, is located in Lake County about 5 miles west of Leadville. It is operated by the Bureau of Reclamation primarily to store irrigation water for the lower Arkansas River users. The Homestake Project has storage rights for water waiting to be transferred to Twin Lakes and pumped to the Homestake Pipeline. Additionally, Aurora owns 5000 af of storage that originally was owned by the Pueblo steel mill CFI.

Reservoir owned and operated by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Elevation: 9,865 feet (2,807 meters)
Aurora's Capacity: 20,000 acre feet (1 acre foot = 325,851 gallons) 
Total Reservoir Capacity: 129,440 acre feet
County - Lake
Recreational opportunities managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

U.S. Forest Service
2015 North Poplar
Leadville, CO

Directions

Follow I-70 87 miles west to CO-91 S (exit 195). Go south on CO-91 for 27.5 miles. Turn right (west) onto US-24 for 1.7 miles. Take Co Rd 99 left to County Rd 9, about 1.6 miles. Turn right onto Turquoise Lake Rd. Follow Turquoise Lake Rd for a half mile.

Recreational Opportunities

• Camping

• Boating

• Fishing

• Hiking

• Biking

• Picnicking

Fee: $4 fee at Matchless boat ramp, Matchless day area, Tabor boat ramp and Butcher Boy, Lady of the Lake and Maid of Erin picnic areas; $5 fee at the dump stations.

Boating: Boat ramp, no restrictions

Fish: Native cutthroat, rainbow, brown, brook and lake trout, kokanee salmon and Snake River cutthroat

Water Acres: 1,500

Managing Agency: San Isabel National Forest/Leadville Ranger District. For more information, call (719) 486-0749.

From the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website