Estes Park campgrounds and green jeep tours

[siremike]

First extended trip with new rv (27 foot class c) and wanting mountain views. No experience driving in mountains.

Current ideas are stop in Colorado Springs for a couple of days then Estes Park and try out a couple of the Green Jeep tours.

No real idea of a campground to stay at with no reservations.

Probably be there first or second week in june.

Anyone think this is a bad plan or have experience with the tours?

No toad so getting around might be tough.

Thanks

Mike & Jackye

[FunTwoDrv]

We were in Estes last June... stayed at Spruce Lake. Easy access and convenient location. Made a last minute reservation and stayed five weeks. There was a shuttle that stopped by...
Another location is Mary's Lake. Check ReserveAmerica for reservations.
The "crowds" were not a concern in June, July is another story! Park access in June was excellent. As noted, Trail Ridge was open. It was quite cool in June with lots of wind. But all-in-all, the weather was great.
Enjoy your adventure,
Gary

[Lauren]

Hope to see you both. Sent you both a private message with my phone number. This will be our 6th or 7th time to BV - third at Valley RV Park which we love. It has the highest rating on RV Park Reviews I have ever seen and it is so low key. Three or four times at the KOA before that.

[4runnerguy]

Lauren wrote:
Will be in B V whole month of August,

If I'm passing through there, I may try to look you up. Not so close as when you visited GWS and were walking distance from our house!

[4runnerguy]

Going to Estes Park w/o reservations means you'll get there and not have a place to stay. Not worth the stress.

Colorado Springs is pretty low on my list of places to go in CO. Lots of traffic and you're really not in the mountains.

My recommendation is to head up US 50 out of Pueblo to Salida and explore the upper Arkansas Valley from Salida all the way north to Leadville. US 50 follows the river so there's really not much in the way of "mountain driving", although the road snakes along the meandering river. There's a ton to do in that area and you're actually among the mountains, not on the plains looking up at them.

[Thunder_Mountai]

Lauren wrote:
That is kinda misleading, fangrs. Yes, you just get to the fringe of Estes that way........ but do not avoid all the mess of people who area staying in Estes for the east side.

And I have heard of new prices for Rocky and more regulations - not sure of details. Were put in place due to overcrowding. That comes from Estes resident.

You still have to deal with the mess on Trail Ridge Road to see the east side.

(Will be in B V whole month of August, T M.)

Hey OP if you want to learn about visiting EP do an advanced search on Estes Park and users Lauren, Thunder Mountain and Thom02099. You will learn most everything you need to know.

Lauren 'bout time we met up. Will be in BV most of August. PM me around August 1st.

[Lauren]

That is kinda misleading, fangrs. Yes, you just get to the fringe of Estes that way........ but do not avoid all the mess of people who area staying in Estes for the east side.

And I have heard of new prices for Rocky and more regulations - not sure of details. Were put in place due to overcrowding. That comes from Estes resident.

You still have to deal with the mess on Trail Ridge Road to see the east side.

(Will be in B V whole month of August, T M.)

[siremike]

I want to thank everyone for sharing. After a few days of research we have booked a few days in Mueller State Park near Colorado Springs. I talked to a Colorado native and he told me the roads should be fine with no severe grades. The last time I was at higher altitude I never noticed any issues. Guess I will find out if things have changed.

Thought about heading back east but who knows when another chance will come.

Life is too short.

Mike

[Thunder_Mountai]

Lauren wrote:
Lived in Estes 8 years after retiring....moved out in 2003. We thought the crowds were terrible then (one of the reasons for moving) and they are far worse now. We keep in touch with people there who are of the type that tell it like it is....kinda like me.

Let's see - your have a 27 foot class C, no toad and no mountain driving experience. Just getting to Estes is mountain driving and, even with low crowds the downtown is packed and parking - even for a car - can be a challenge.

And you could have snow in early to mid June to top it off.

Rocky Mtn NP used to be a beautiful place but disrespectful people, pine beetle killing many of the trees at higher altitudes, overcrowding, very high prices in marginal rv parks have all contributed to its fall from grace. Say nothing of the infighting in the Town politics....all suffer their actions.

We spend our time now in CO over in the San Juans - love Buena Vista.

Email or PM me if you wish more info.

Although we have never met, Lauren and I are soul mates. We lived in EP from 1980 until 2010. Wife's family first went there in 1917. I was introduced to EP in 1969. Then it became my go to place.

When I retired in 2010, I couldn't wait to leave. The chaos and gridlock ruined it for us.

Don't know a thing about the Jeep tour company you are looking at, but you will just get wind and bugs in your face not wilderness. Because it is a National Park, you won't get a real Jeep experience. There are a few off road experiences in the area, but they will not take you there.

We moved to Buena Vista because it reminded of us of what why two hippies moved to Colorado. Don't waste your time going to EP unless you like New York City. John Denver's Colorado is hard to find. Even Buena Vista has been discovered. Don't know where to go to next.

[fanrgs]

Lauren wrote:
Staying on the west side of RMNP is kinda like staying at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon...........you can say you have been there but you cannot say you have SEEN it.

Except that you can visit the whole park from the west entrance as easily as the east entrances and never even go into Estes.

The last time I made the mistake of going to Estes on a Saturday, the elk were on the golf course. Traffic on the Peak-to-Peak Highway was backed up to Mary's Lake due to people stopping to take photos with their phones. Took an hour to get to the Fall River entrance to RMNP. And that was in September!

[Lauren]

Staying on the west side of RMNP is kinda like staying at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon...........you can say you have been there but you cannot say you have SEEN it.

[fanrgs]

I too love RMNP, but not Estes Park. My first trip there was in 1957 and I spent a summer working as a surveyor in the RMNP area in the 1960's. But now I won't go to Estes except in mid-September and even then never on a weekend.

My suggestion is don't miss it but, as others have suggested, go to Granby-Grand Lake, not Estes. There are a number of Forest Service campgrounds around Granby Reservoir and Shadow Mountain Lake. We like the Stillwater cg for the e!ectricity, but, if you have a generator, you could stay at any of them. Then rent a car or reserve a van service in Granby or Winter Park and take a day trip over Trail Ridge Road through the west entrance.

Avalanche car rental in Granby HERE.

Limo van service over Trail Ridge from Winter Park: http://www.coloradotour.com/services/

For more info on camping along US 40, see my blog HERE.

[F-TROUP]

With not having a toad, I would forgo tourist spots till bettered prepared and a little more driving experience. A bad first trip can weight on your mind for a long while.

[Ivylog]

Heck, Estes Park was a tourist trap 50 years ago and I may regret this some day but there is another entrance to RMNP...Grand Lake. I go there without reservations but I tow a car so never tried to rent a car/Jeep. Plenty of private and public CGs even a fairly new one inside the park. Not sure why, but you could day trip to E Park.

[Thom02099]

H E R E - Estes Park is a previous post that may have some useful information for you.

In a nutshell:

Trail Ridge Road is scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend. They shoot for that every year. Some years it works out, others not so much. A couple of seasons back they got it plowed through and open, but couldn't keep it open due to late season storms dumping a foot+ up there.

The good news about Estes Park is they have a lot of shuttles around town and they are free. There's shuttles from the various CG inside the park, as well as some of the commercial RV parks. And shuttles can take you up to Bear Lake, but there is a very good chance it will still be frozen over and snow on the trail around the lake. Other lake trails in the area that high up will also likely still be snowed in, or will be extremely muddy. Lower elevation trails should be a better opportunity, if you're into hiking.

The bad news about Estes Park is your chances of finding a place to stay will be slim to none. The CGs inside the park are likely completely booked. There is an off chance of finding something in a commercial park; check the parks noted in my link on RVParkreviews.com. I would start with Estes Park Campground at Mary's Lake if you're going to consider commercial. They have FHU as well as W/E and no hookup sites, so you might be able to luck out.

Those shuttles mentioned previously? You'll need them, because I can assure you, there won't be much at all in the way of parking for a Class C in the downtown area. All of the parking lots fill up early, and stay full until late evening. There's parking at the visitor's center and the fairgrounds, but even those can fill up, particularly if there's any sort of event going on in town...and there usually is SOMETHING going on all the time downtown.

I can't offer you any feedback on the Green Jeep tours, since I've never done one. I can tell you that, over the past several seasons (I go up every year and have done so for close to 40 years) there seems to have been an increase in the number of tour vehicles seen up on Trail Ridge.

I know this all sounds like I'm down on Estes Park. I'm not. I love it up there; if I didn't I wouldn't keep going back year after year. I got my reservations back in December and January, as I have 3 trips planned up there. And there are wonderful places to stay, as well as visit, but timing can be everything. And I don't believe in sugar coating it. This is the reality of a resort town next to a national park that saw ~4.5 million visitors last couple of years. Other people must agree, otherwise it would not be so popular and so packed.