The rez has been magical this time of year—there are very few here, and the weather has been perfect. I bring my dogs to the water, and they just run and smile. The rangers are still on duty - it's a calm one, but the rescue boat is always ready. I love this time of year!

Gorgeous area, dog friendly, paddle board and kayak rentals.THINGS TO KNOW:Weekenders - get there early! Once the parking lot is full, you have to wait for a car to leave in order to get in. This CAN take hours. If you made a rental reservation, plan ahead if you have to wait in like.Again, fun place but be mindful and plan ahead.

Let me start by saying, don't listen to the cheapskates on here who can't afford $12/day. <<eyeroll>> That is a MORE than reasonable price (per family/carload) for a day at the reservoir! My gosh, people... This park was incredibly clean. Massive trash bins all conveniently located. Parking was easy to get in & out of. Park rangers patrolling were always visible, keeping the peace, traffic control, etc. All of the patrons we interacted with were friendly & lovely humans -- both in the water and out. The dogs that were in the water, around the park and in the dog-specific beach area were all great! We did not run into any aggressive dogs, they were all friendly & sweet! Owners were watchful and trusted their well-behaved pooches off-leash in the dog area. On-leash is required everywhere else in the park, which is nice. There is a kayak & paddleboard rental shop onsite, just as you drive in from the main entrance that you pay at. The staff at Rocky Mountain Paddleboard were lovely & helpful. We were able to kayak with our dogs too! The water is a little gunky, if you will... like, a bit swampy I guess? We didn't get out to the middle of the res or to the other side, but on the south side (near the main entrance) the water was pretty greenish and had all of the little floaty things from the trees above. Still, not too bad and at least didn't smell dirty. Really not something that our family wanted to swim in though. You'll also want to bathe your dogs after they swim in this water, in my opinion. We certainly did! We did not use the bathrooms, though we saw 2 sets of restrooms -- both which seemed to have long lines. The park was PACKED though, as we were there on a holiday weekend. So that's to be expected. The main downside is that the park staff at the entrance was very slowwww to let people through the line to pay & park. I think this was because the park was full and they were cutting people off, though there was plenty of parking still available in the field behind the dog park area. We waited for well over 1 hour to get into the park. This was our 1st time going, so we'll choose a less busy time for our next visit.

We rented stand-up paddleboards and thoroughly enjoyed our first experience with them. Then we brought out our canvas chairs and had a picnic lunch.I recommend Union Reservoir for an outdoors/water option with a nice view of the mountains.

Union is a lovely city park, with shady trees, a nice beach (for Colorado :o). Fishing is often good, and fisherman are present pretty much any time open water present. Fortunately, loud power boats are not allowed on lake, preserving the peacefulness of the spot. Paddle boarding is easily accessible and oft enjoyed by visitors, with a concession renting what you might need. I go mostly to look at birds, and the park is good for that recreation as well, though admittedly better when the lake is otherwise uncrowded.