Boyd Lake State Park RV & Campground Guide

Fishing is popular on a boat or from shore across the 1,700 surface acres of Boyd Lake, including ice fishing once there are 4 inches of ice. Species surveyed here by Colorado Parks and Wildlife include black crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, common carp, gizzard shad, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, saugeye, smallmouth bass, green sunfish, walleye, white bass, white crappie, white sucker, and yellow perch. The park also offers an ADA-accessible fishing pier, which you can access via a paved path from the parking lot.

If you are in the mood for an old-fashioned scavenger hunt, you will be happy to know that Boyd Lake State Park has several geocaching locations mentioned on various geocaching websites. For example, one geocaching website's "A Walk in the Park" hunt lists a family-friendly cache near the Boyd Lake Visitor Center, north of 37th Street. Another hidden item listed on the same site under "Salix" has you searching on the lake's north end in tall grass.

The Bortle Scale rating for Boyd Lake State Park is roughly Class 5 due to its location within Loveland's city limits. With this suburban label, you will see 5.99 magnitude at most with the naked eye and up to 15 M with 320mm magnification. That means you can see M31 with ease using direct vision, but it is a washout when trying to see the central mass of the Milky Way.

The only designated hiking trail at Boyd Lake State Park is the Grassland Trail. It is a 0.4-mile soft dirt pathway with an easy rating and 24-foot vertical elevation change throughout. Another option is walking the City Trail that meanders along the western shoreline of Boyd Lake. You can also use the paths along the shoreline created by anglers and the asphalt roadways for additional exercise.

Feel free to bring your watercraft and launch from the main boat ramp or the Heron Cove boat ramp. Boyd Lake State Park also maintains a marina with a general store where you can rent canoes, fishing boats, kayaks, mooring spots, paddle bikes, pontoon boats, slip spaces, and wave runners. It is worth noting that the Heron Cove boat ramp is for launching Jet Skis or sailboats, and the park limits waterskiing to the lake's southern half.

You can open-swim anywhere within Boyd Lake during daylight hours as long as you are 150 feet away from facilities like the marina and boat ramps. The park does have a swimming beach located north of the campgrounds and south of the marina. The Boyd Lake swim beach includes a pavilion with rinsing showers, restrooms, a playground, a picnic area, a snack bar, and a volleyball court in the sand.

Biking is possible in the park along the City Trail, a part of Loveland's 21-mile-long Loveland Recreation Trail System loop. The trail offers riders an easy-rated paved pathway with 175 feet of vertical elevation change along 4.9 miles near Boyd Lake's western shores. Other biking path options include the asphalt roadways and the 0.4-mile-long Grassland Trail footpath.