Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Co. owns and manages the dam and reservoir. The hardy Schryvers, who have been caretakers at Grizzly since April 2008, are among an army of custodians guarding remote mountain reservoirs for the water’s owner, the city of Colorado Springs. There is an information kiosk right off the highway and a mileage sign for locations along the Grizzly Reservoir/Lincoln Gulch road. Kim enters the summer’s flow measurements into a database. The system captures water from a 45-square-mile basin and diverts about 48,000 acre-feet from the Upper Roaring Fork to the Front Range cities of Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Aurora that took over the system when the sugarbeet industry collapsed in the 1970s. In one selection from her collection “Lucid Life,” the poet offers a father’s wish for his daughter, Opinion: Durango voters show the power of putting students over politics, The 25 most-read Colorado Sun stories of 2020, (720) 263-2338 — Call, text, Signal or WhatsApp. Date of experience: June 2018. As a team, they are formidable. The reservoir is calm and serene, with some small creeks flowing in on the south shore that beckon for further exploration. This is a no-wake lake. If you want a great time in the great outdoors just come on up to the Sawatch Range. Several years ago, their teenage son commuted to high school in Buena Vista through the tunnel. Grizzly Lake is glorious. Approach velocities will be calculated for the Bucks Lake and Grizzly Forebay diversion intakes. Try fishing the dam on the parking lot side (there may be a few brook trout near the inlet). Farther down the valley, a canal that funnels water from the Lost Man Tunnel into the reservoir was wedged with shredded trees. When the ice was gone, they used paddleboards, maneuvering around trees bobbing in the lake and trying to rope the timber before it floated into the grates at the mouth of the tunnel. “Be nice to have a little quiet.”, Turning the lights off: “OK, I’m getting creeped out,” says Glenn Schryver after a few seconds of driving without his headlights at 45 mph in the pencil-straight tunnel beneath Independence Pass. “The flows were so strong underneath the water that when the trees would pop up, you’d try to paddle over there, and by the time you got there, they were back underwater,” says Glenn, who counted 128 rings on the largest tree he pulled from the reservoir. Contact Information. Definitely no swimming; but also no: boating, shore fishing, bird watching, nor mountain biking, nor hiking allowed around the edge of the lake.....Outside of with the annual Delaware Nature Society jaunt. Grizzly bears have large home ranges that are often peppered with bodies of water, and crossings on Hungry Horse Reservoir or Lake McDonald aren’t unusual. (Dean Krakel, Special to The Colorado Sun) The Schryvers were working in Lamar in the 1990s and early 2000s when they started spending summer vacations camping at the Portal Campground on the banks of Grizzly Reservoir. They were unable to access the tunnel or even snowmobile out for supplies — not that big of a deal for the two, who can go weeks during winter without seeing another person beyond a rare glimpse of adventurous snowmobilers. They are gritty. Colorado Springs has about 20 caretakers watching over 25 mountain reservoirs that store and send water toward taps. The Schryvers moved into the cabin a couple weeks after that call. It is filled by Rapid Creek and can be seen from US Highway 385. Last year, she finally published some. They would hike through the White River National Forest above the reservoir in the shadows of Truro, Larson, Garfield and Grizzly peaks and explore the long-abandoned prospector homes in the ghost town of Ruby. News about Grizzly Reservoir can be found at: And this past summer was exceptionally busy after massive March avalanches clogged countless ditches, canals and streams high in the mountains. They share tasks in an almost military manner. The deluge of avalanche debris trapped Kim and Glenn for nearly three weeks. All gravity fed. Once the snow starts, the Schryvers’ compound is accessible only by a long trip on a snow machine or that four-mile tunnel. Schryver, 61, and his wife, Kim, 59, have what is probably the most thrilling commute in Colorado, driving through the Twin Lakes Tunnel beneath Independence Pass to reach their home on the banks of the remote Grizzly Reservoir. That’s when we go do our own things.”. Connects: Lincoln Creek Road (FSR #106), Grizzly Lake Trail, Lincoln Portal Campground, Grizzly Reservoir after being emptied in August 2015. Aspen Daily News (August 12, 2015) – Color of river sparks concerns, By using this site you agree to the terms of our. To get to the reservoir from the North Star Nature Preserve in Aspen, travel 8 miles up Independence Pass Road (HWY 82) and turn right onto Lincoln Creek Road (FSR #106). “So, when flows got really high, everything just got flushed toward the tunnel and we used a backhoe to fish the timber from the grates. After monster, back-to-back storms dropped a total of more than 70 inches of exceptionally wet snow, the 13,000-foot peaks above his reservoir had shed their heavy blankets overnight, ripping out entire groves of aspen, lodgepole and spruce and dumping them in the lake. Share. After a decade of writing letters, the Schryvers moved to Gunnison and had pretty much given up hope for the caretaking gig when Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Co. called and asked whether they were still interested. This little gem of a park provides numerous activities such as camping, fishing, boating, hiking, swimming, or just relaxing in the midst of a natural oasis. “It’s a good time to catch up on your prayer life,” Kim says of the process. Jordan Curet. Find a park. Many of their reservoir guardians are raising kids. 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