Drive west out of Hartsel toward Antero this past June and you would have hit a locked gate before you ever saw water. Past the rocks there was cracked mud, exposed fence line, and a boat ramp sitting several feet above anything it could reach. The reservoir did not dry up on its own. Denver Water pumped it dry on purpose, and the utility was upfront about exactly why.
Antero has always been built to work this way. On paper it is what Denver Water calls a drought reservoir, meaning it exists specifically to be drawn down when conditions get bad enough. This spring, they got bad enough.
Why This Year, Specifically
Denver Water declared a Stage 1 drought on March 25, 2026, and asked its customers to cut water use by 20 percent. By late April, the South Platte River Basin portion of the utility's collection system sat at just 2 percent of normal snowpack, the second-worst reading on record, while the Colorado River Basin portion sat at 18 percent, the worst ever recorded. Statewide, snow water equivalent measured 22 percent of median by April 9, and peak snowpack had already come and gone a full month early, on March 8 instead of the usual early April.
Antero sits at the front of that math because of how it is built. It averages only about eight feet deep and spreads across a wide surface area, which means it loses more water to evaporation relative to its size than any other reservoir in Denver Water's system. Cheesman Reservoir, its downstream neighbor, runs nearly 200 feet deep and holds water far more efficiently. So the plan this year was simple: move the water out of the shallow bathtub before summer heat took it, and store it in the deep one instead. Denver Water's own announcement put it plainly through Nathan Elder, the utility's manager of water supply: Antero is a drought reservoir, designed to provide water during a severe drought.
Release began on May 1. May 13 was the last day for public access. Antero has been closed to all recreation, including camping, for the rest of 2026. This isn't unprecedented. Denver Water has emptied or significantly drained the reservoir before, most recently in 2002 and again in 2015, but this year's closure is the first since 2002 to shut the gate entirely.
Where the Trout Actually Went
Before the water left, Colorado Parks and Wildlife ran an emergency fish salvage. Bag and possession limits on every species were lifted through the May 13 closure date, and CPW electrofished nearly a thousand trophy-sized rainbow, brown, cutthroat and cutbow trout out of Antero before the drawdown made rescue impossible. Those fish were trucked to Elevenmile State Park, chosen because it sits in the same South Platte basin and had already tested positive for New Zealand mudsnails, so moving fish there didn't risk spreading anything new. A few tiger muskies reportedly turned up in the South Fork of the South Platte River during the same operation, which is not where anyone expected to find them.
For local guides, the closure landed as more than a fisheries story. Travis Sawyer, co-owner of Kindred Anglers, has spent years building trips around Antero and told Denver7 that the loss of the water hit his business directly, not just his favorite stretch of shoreline.
Spinney Isn't Picking Up the Overflow
Here is the part that changes how this season actually plays out for anyone fishing out of Hartsel. In a normal year, anglers who couldn't get onto Antero would simply shift over to Spinney Mountain Reservoir or Elevenmile. This year, Spinney is not in a position to absorb that traffic. Current reports from Angler's Covey put Spinney near 37 percent of capacity, with trailered boats unable to use the ramps at all. Access is limited to shore fishing and hand-launched craft like kayaks and float tubes, and the exposed shoreline has left fish especially sensitive to movement from the bank. Reports from 11 Mile Marina describe boating conditions at Spinney this season as risky at best.
That leaves Elevenmile as the only reservoir in the chain still running something close to a normal season, and it is now carrying the weight of all three. It has functioning boat ramps. It also absorbed roughly a thousand of Antero's relocated trophy trout. The fishing pressure that would ordinarily spread across Antero, Spinney and Elevenmile in a typical summer is, this year, concentrating almost entirely on one lake.
What This Looks Like If You're Fishing Out of Hartsel This Fall
A few things worth knowing before you make the drive:
- Bag limits at Elevenmile are back to normal. The unlimited-take window from the spring salvage closed on May 13, and standard Colorado Parks and Wildlife regulations now apply.
- If you're hand-launching a kayak or float tube at Spinney or Elevenmile, clean, drain and dry it first. Antero tested positive for New Zealand mudsnails, and CPW is asking anglers not to move that problem downstream.
- Check road conditions before committing to the drive. Recent reports out of 11 Mile Marina describe the county roads on the Spinney side of the chain as rough going in stretches, with grading crews behind schedule.
- Park County's Stage 2 fire ban remains in effect around these reservoirs. Propane grills and fire rings are allowed. Open flame is not.
- Denver Water has not set a refill date for Antero, and utility staff have said publicly that it could take several years of average or better snowpack to bring the reservoir back online. Plan your season around Elevenmile and Spinney, not around Antero returning next spring.
The Season Ahead
By Denver Water's own accounting as of July 31, 2026, its reservoir system sat at 75 percent of capacity, about 20 points below the 96 percent that's typical for that date. Staff expect that number to keep falling, landing somewhere between 60 and 62 percent by April 1, 2027, which would be the lowest the utility has recorded for that date since the 2002-2003 drought. None of that changes what's already happened at Antero this year. What it does suggest is that the shift playing out around Hartsel this season, more pressure on Elevenmile, tighter access at Spinney, a locked gate west of town, is not likely to reverse itself by next spring. For now, the water that's actually running is the water worth planning around.
If you already call this stretch of South Park home, you probably found your own workaround for this season weeks ago. But if you're weighing whether Hartsel could be that kind of home base, or you're simply curious what else is shifting across Park and Chaffee County this year, the team at Coldwell Banker Collegiate Peaks Realty keeps a close eye on the details that don't show up in a listing description. Schedule a free consultation whenever you're ready to talk about what living out here actually looks like, season to season.
