DePoorter Lake

During Wild West times, Julesburg was a dangerous place to live as it was a stomping ground for outlaws, gunslingers and Cheyenne Indians. Nearby Fort Sedgwick was an important military base protecting the Overland Trail and Colorado’s only Pony Express Home Station.

Today, the once notoriously rowdy town is known for it’s colorful history, clean living and peaceful atmosphere. One of the more tranquil locations is an icy jewel set between the city and the South Platte River.

DePoorter Lake is a lonely oasis concealed in Colorado’s forsaken, eastern plains. Dug out of the open prairie in 1988 when fill dirt was needed for a construction project, the picturesque pond was transformed into a fishery and stocked with sunfish, catfish, bluegill and rainbow trout.

The charming lake is bordered on the east by a coniferous windbreak that impedes the countryside’s brutal chinook. Fringing the cobalt reservoir, bare cottonwood trees are twisted into painfully distorted silhouettes.

Circumnavigating the clear water on a cold November morning is an exhilarating activity that rouses the soul. Broken light streams sporadically through drifting clouds inspiring thankfulness to be bound to such a beautiful landscape.

A tranquil location

Set between the city and the South Platte

A lonely oasis

A picturesque pond

A charming lake

The trees are painfully twisted