Other improvements made during the same period included enlargement, lining, and smoothing portions of the Gunnison Tunnel, constructing concrete and steel structures to replace some of the worn out wooden structures in the privately constructed irrigation systems, relining portions of the canals, and constructing a drainage system to relieve and prevent waterlogging of land. The dam is a zoned earthfill structure 206 feet high, with a crest length of 675 feet and a volume of 1,115,000 cubic yards. The spillway is an overflow-type weir crest 180 feet long with a capacity of 10,000 cubic feet per second. The outlet works is a horseshoe tunnel with a diameter of 10 feet, and a capacity of 1,500 cubic feet per second. Recreation Free camp and picnic grounds have been provided by the Forest Service at Taylor Park Reservoir.
Cabins are available at privately owned resort developments in the area.
Camping, picnicking, swimming, and boating are popular activities, and fishing is good for rainbow, brown, and Loch Leven trout. Some brook and native trout also are caught. Recreation facilities are administered by the Forest Service. The Taylor Park damsite is on the western flank of the Sawatch Mountains. It is characterized by complexly folded and faulted Precambrian rocks unconformably overlain by Paleozoic sediments.