May Queen Campground

🏊Swimming at May Queen Campground

Recreation.gov lists swimming as one of the activities available at the campground, alongside hand-carried boat/canoe launching directly into Turquoise Lake. First-hand camper reports describe the water as very cold even in June, with families still paddling on stand-up paddleboards; this is high-altitude reservoir swimming rather than a warm summer swimming hole, and best suited to those comfortable with cold water.

📍How to get to this swimming hole

From Leadville, Colorado, head west on County Road 4 (paved) for about 9 miles to May Queen Campground, on the right at the far western end of Turquoise Lake.

Parking: Two vehicles are included per campsite reservation; no separate day-use or swim-area parking lot was documented in sourced material.

🥾The walk in

No real hike here. The water is a short walk from where you park. No hike is required in a normal water year: one Campendium reviewer put the walk from campsite to the lake's edge at roughly 30 yards, and another described walking straight to the lake to fish/kayak from camp. However, this varies a lot with drought: other campers reported the reservoir dropping so low that the shoreline was pushed out to roughly 1.2 miles from the campground, turning what's normally a short stroll into a long carry for kayaks/SUPs. Check current lake level before counting on a short walk.

💬What regulars say

Visitor reports (Campendium camper reviews): the walk from a normal-condition shoreline to the campground is short (about 30 yards for one reviewer), but reservoir levels swing a lot with drought - in low-water years the lake edge can retreat roughly 1.2 miles from camp, and at least one group planning to kayak/SUP from their site instead drove elsewhere because the water was too far away. Water is described as very cold even in June, though families still paddleboarded with kids. Vault/pit toilets were called clean/spotless, and one reviewer flagged a roughly 500-step uphill walk from the parking area to one hillside site (site 1), so site selection affects how far you're carrying gear.

📜Backstory

The campground is near the historic Charles Boustead Memorial Tunnel and an abandoned 1890s Colorado Midland Railroad grade, and lies along the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway route toward Independence Pass, though no history specific to swimming at this site was found.