Twin Lakes is a pair of glacier-carved alpine lakes about south of historic Leadville, Colorado. They are downstream along the Arkansas River, whose headwaters are by Leadville. The lakes, however, are on a tributary, Lake Creek, which joins the Arkansas just below the lakes. After dredging, the lakes now have a surface area of , and they serve as a reservoir to store water for use in the Front Range. Both east and west lakes are recreation areas for boating and fishing. Twin Lakes is also the name of an adjacent census-designated place (CDP) and a post office in and governed by Lake County, Colorado, United States. The Twin Lakes post office has the ZIP Code 81251. At the United States Census 2010, the population of the Twin Lakes CDP was 171, while the population of the 81251 ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 220 including adjacent areas. History Lake County, one of the original 17 counties created by the Colorado legislature in 1861, was named for the Twin Lakes. As originally defined, Lake County included a large portion of western Colorado to the south and west of its present boundaries. The Twin Lakes District has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974. Geography The Twin Lakes and the Twin Lakes CDP are located about south of Leadville, the county seat. The CDP is bounded on the east by U.S. Route 24 (US 24), on the south by Colorado State Highway 82 (SH 82, and on the north and west by County Highway 24. About west of the CDP is the original community of Twin Lakes, near the west end of what is now the Twin Lakes Reservoir. The reservoir lies south of SH 82, outside the CDP. SH 82 leads west across Independence Pass to Aspen, while US 24 leads north to Leadville and south to Buena Vista. The altitude of the Twin Lakes area ranges from to over , all of it somewhat lower than Leadville. Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, rises directly west of the CDP to its summit, just west of the center of the CDP. The Twin Lakes CDP has an area of , including of water, (much less than the surface area of the Twin Lakes themselves). Demographics The United States Census Bureau initially defined the for the See also List of census-designated places in Colorado References External links