Ponderosa - Canyon Ferry Reservoir USBR

My Favorite Summer Spot At The Lake!! Lots Of Campsites Along Canyon Ferry as well as day spots, restrooms and access. Fishing Boating, Restaurant At Yacht Basin!! It's Perfect!! 

My Spot 

I camped there in spring and there were very few hardy souls camping then.  It was a little windy and cold but it was beautiful and not crowded at all.  There are no hook ups so it is dry camping but the site was pretty level and it was easy to park my trailer in a spot.  

Nice spots near Canyon Ferry Lake

Canyon Ferry is a reservoir created by the Pick-Sloan flood management plan in the 1940s and was built in 1954. The series of dams flooded and destroyed Native Lands and prevented the river from naturally flooding the flood plains around it. As a result, the natural landscape was altered and it is evident upon visiting that it is suffering. The trees are dying and the scene looks like Africa in a drought. There is a lot of water, but it is stagnant and prevented from flowing due to the dam. The water is swampy, thick and full of algae, I measured surface temperature at 83 degrees. Natural lakes at the same time were around 64. Getting in the water feels like getting in warm bisque, and is not refreshing. No fish were biting, but I believe a turtle bit me when in the water. Mosquitoes are prolific, they thrive in stagnant warm water, like this. According to locals they were better at the time I was present than earlier, which seems an impossibility. This water is dead and gross and needs to be discharged. It looks like a swimming pool that nobody maintains at an hourly rate Florida motel. It is obviously not fresh, not filtered, not moving, and is just sitting there growing algae and mosquitoes. Quagga mussels were a fear, and if anyone knows where they thrive, it is in dirty polluted gross water, not clean water. The local efforts attempt to prevent invasion but they only "invade" dead water like the Great Lakes. This water does not seem safe to swim or fish from. 

The campsite was nice, the water was not.

Canyon Ferry Is Dying

Near Goosebay Harbor.
Rough roar 3 miles Long to a hidden gem.

Canyon Ferry Dispersed Camping

Stayed at Riverside Canyon Ferry Campground.  Beautiful drive in and across dam.  Smaller less congested Campground than others on the lake itself.  Boat ramp for river access and fishing, Quick access to top of dam and beach areas for swimming. Great views.

Riverside Campground, below dam

Their is no campground or camping area on Canyon Ferry that is called Ponderosa Campground.  The location on the map is not an area open to camping.  All the below review are for different locations on the lake.