Southside Campground - Lake Isabel

Southside Campground is a small RV facility situated in the Wet Mountains by Lake Isabel. The popular recreation area offers a selection of hiking trails and great fishing and paddle boating on Lake Isabel. The lake was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s for the purpose of recreation; the 40-acre lake is stocked with trout, and the nearby St. Charles Creek offers additional fishing opportunities. Lake Isabel welcomes non-motorized boating and fishing. Brown and brook trout are stocked in the lake and the St. Charles headwaters reap brook trout. Visitors can enjoy hiking, bicycling or motorcycling on either the Snow Slide Trail or the Cisneros Trail. The 15-mile Cisneros Trail, also open to ATV riders, leads to the heart of the Wet Mountains, through forests and open, wildflower-speckled valleys, and along the way connects to the St. Charles Trail, which heads to St. Charles Peak. The campground is designed for RVs less than 30 feet in length, with no large slide-outs, and requires no hook-ups; RV hookups are not available. All sites are pull-through, so backing is not required, and roads are paved. The facility is not ideal for tent camping, but tent camping is permitted. Amenities include campfire grills, vault toilets, drinking water and picnic tables. Aspen and ponderosa pine help shade the campground. Lake Isabel impresses visitors with a shoreline that meets the rocky base of the surrounding mountains at an elevation of 8,600 feet. The Pike and San Isabel National Forest includes over a million acres of wilderness and over half of Colorado's mountain peaks that reach above 14,000 feet.