Lake Dillon Is Low Enough This Fall to Walk Where the Railroad Ran

On the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 20, Ken Raggio stood in a pile of rubble on the floor of Dillon Reservoir and looked out at whitecaps tens of feet away. Raggio volunteers with the Summit Historical Society. He told the Summit Daily News that in a normal year he would have been standing under 10 feet of water.

Most stories about this summer's lake focus on old Dillon, the town under the water. The low water has shown something more specific and much rarer. The remains coming out of the mud belong to Dickey, a railroad junction from the 1880s, along with stretches of old highway. And the reservoir is not done dropping.

Seven weeks later, the lake is lower still

Denver Water's Water Watch report for Oct. 5, 2026, put Dillon Reservoir at 164,049 acre-feet. That is 63% of capacity. On the same date last year it was 83% full, and the historical average for early October is 94%.

The shortfall started in the snowpack. Denver Water says the 2025–26 snowpack in the Colorado River Basin peaked on March 18 at just 58% of normal. A warm spring then melted it early and fast. Flow into the reservoir peaked on May 29 at 404 cubic feet per second, a record low and less than a quarter of the usual 1,750 cfs peak. The lake topped out on June 17 at only 80% full.

After that, the lake kept doing its job as Denver's largest reservoir. At the end of July, Denver Water was drawing about 163 million gallons a day from Dillon to supply Denver and its suburbs. That water reaches the Front Range through the 23-mile Roberts Tunnel under the Continental Divide. On July 31 the reservoir sat 22.5 feet below full, and the utility expected it to drop another 8 to 10 feet by Labor Day.

The forecast keeps the shoreline exposed all winter. Denver Water expects Dillon to be down to 50% to 60% of capacity by next spring. Its Oct. 5 update calls a full refill next year extremely unlikely.

The bottom of that forecast range comes close to the 2002–03 drought. It stays well above the 1978 record. Denver Water's projections run through spring, and in Summit County spring is when runoff traditionally starts to refill the lake.

What the drop uncovered near Farmers Korner

Dickey sits just north of Farmers Korner and the Blue River Sanitation Plant. In the 1880s it was the junction where the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad met the Denver, South Park & Pacific. From there the Denver & Rio Grande continued to old Dillon, and the South Park line ran on toward Keystone and Leadville.

According to Raggio, Dickey was never really a town. Few people, if any, lived there. It existed to serve trains. "They had a water tower, they had a station house for the crews to go on and a place to repair the engines," he told the Summit Daily. A station master probably worked there full-time, running the switches.

Here is what the August report documented on the exposed ground:

• Rocks laid out in squares, which are building foundations
• Railroad spikes, hidden in the brush
• Rusted metal fittings that Raggio thought could be parts of an old water valve
• Patches of asphalt and rubble from the old highways
• A curved strip of packed-down earth that marks where the rail line ran through Dickey

The rail grade is new even to the people who know this shoreline best. Raggio has been in Summit County for seven years, and he said these are the lowest levels he has seen. "I really haven't seen this before this year," he said of the worn path. "That is the proof of where (the railroads) went."

The last train passed through Dickey in 1937. The buildings were torn down after that, and years later Denver Water flooded the site.

Why so little of old Dillon came back

Today's Dillon is the fourth version of the town. Raggio calls the earlier sites Dillon one, Dillon two and so on, and the reservoir covers Dillon three. Denver Water started buying water rights in the valley around 1910. By the 1950s it held the rights it needed to build the reservoir.

Residents had until 1961 to relocate. Any trees or buildings still standing after that deadline were to be burned, so they would not foul a water source the Front Range was about to depend on. Moving the town was hard and expensive. The Old Dillon Schoolhouse, now home to the Summit Historical Society, had a tall steeple, and crews had to dig a trench so the building could pass under power lines. Graves from the old cemetery, including some from the Spanish flu years, were moved to the new cemetery on Cemetery Road.

All that clearing explains the lakebed today. "There was nothing down the hill," Raggio said. "Denver Water removed everything because they didn't want to have anything to pollute their water source." He thinks whatever was left below the surface has already come up this summer. So the lower water over the coming months is unlikely to reveal much more. It will mostly leave the same foundations, spikes and rail grade in view longer.

The marina side of the same drop

At the Dillon Marina, the town spent the summer adjusting to the falling lake. Its July 24 notice laid out the plan. Starting July 27, crews would lower the gangways in phases after installing new anchors on the lakebed and connecting shore cables, build a walking path below the seawall, and gradually move G-Dock slip holders to the main marina. The marina's August newsletter said the gangways had been lowered all the way to the lakebed and warned of an uneven walk to the docks. Customer boats had to be out of the water by Sept. 13.

The STEEP tiki bar opened under new management this summer. It has since closed for the season and plans to reopen in May 2027. Across the lake, the Town of Frisco ended all powerboat and paddle-sport rentals at Frisco Bay Marina for 2026 and closed its public ramp because of the low water.

Downstream, the same water shortage reached Front Range lawns. Denver Water declared a Stage 1 drought on March 25. An amendment on Aug. 26 banned lawn watering and spray irrigation after Sept. 30 for the utility's customers.

Before you walk out on the old lakebed

Summit County says you can reach the water from much of the reservoir's 26-plus miles of shoreline. The exceptions are specific Denver Water properties that are closed to the public. Hiking, running and walking are all listed uses of the Dillon Reservoir Recreation Area. Denver Water's rules require pets to stay leashed and under control and owners to clean up after them. Going onto dam structures, facilities or other closed areas is prohibited.

State law also covers the artifacts. Colorado reserves title to historical and archaeological resources on land owned by the state, counties, cities, towns, districts and other political subdivisions. Under the statute, knowingly taking, digging up, damaging or destroying those resources on such land without a permit is a class 2 misdemeanor, and anything taken unlawfully can be forfeited. Whether the law applies to a particular stretch of exposed shoreline depends on who owns that ground. Either way, the spikes and valve fittings Raggio found are part of a record that very few people have seen above water.

When the ice comes in

Ice on Dillon Reservoir comes with its own rules. Denver Water allows ice fishing when conditions permit. It bans motorized vehicles, snowmobiles included, on the reservoir ice, and anyone on foot or skis is there at their own risk. Colorado Parks and Wildlife's general ice guidance says to stay off ice 2 inches thick or less and to look for 4 inches of good ice before walking on it. It also warns that thickness can vary across a single lake and that partly submerged objects and structures can weaken the ice around them. This winter, more of the shoreline than usual has foundations, rubble and lowered dock hardware sitting near the waterline. No agency has put out a 2026 advisory written specifically for ice on a low reservoir, so the standing rules are the guidance there is.

If you want the story behind the stones, the Summit Historical Society's calendar lists its 60th birthday celebration for Oct. 24, 2026.

At Reside In Summit, Krystal Knott and Brett Rudolph follow the lake's level closely all year, because it affects how people use and value the shoreline neighborhoods around it. If you own near the water and want to know where your home stands during a low-water year, request a free home valuation and we'll go over it with you in person.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.