National Park Retreats, Estes Park, CO, Moab UTah

[InTheWoods]

Does anyone have any comment about National Park Retreats in Estes Park Colorado? We are planning a 5 day stay there this June. We typically camp the National Parks but this trip we've chosen to get electric and showers. We prefer to stay away from the highly touristy cg's (Koa). Most of our time in Estes will be spent day hiking. We have been there 3 times before but stayed in cabins at the YMCA.

Secondly, we are heading from Estes to Moab, Utah and could use campground recommendations there as well. Thanks a bunch....

InTheWoods
2001 Jayco 10
Minnesota

[Kelly]

InTheWoods ~

Welcome from a fellow Minnesotan!  

I have camped in both those areas.  I'm not familiar with National Park Retreats.  We stayed at Mary's Lake Campground while in Estes Park.  It was okay ~ not quite a KOA, but pretty close!  All the trees in their pics on the website are deceiving!  They put the PUs all together in one area and it's sort of like a big dirt parking lot!  I don't know if you're traveling with kids ~ there wasn't a lot for them to do here.  Fortunately we didn't spend much time at the campground.

In Moab we stayed at Archview Resort based on a recommendation from someone here.  It was very convenient to Arches NP and Canyonlands NP.  There weren't many trees there ~ but I think it would be tough to find trees anywhere around there!   They had a small pool and the kids had a great time in that.  The people were friendly and helpful and the bathrooms were clean.  I figure if we're out exploring all day that's all I really need at the campground!  

You might want to send MtnCamper a private message or email ... he's a former Minnesotan now living in Colorado.  He likes to camp away from the tourists, too!  He's a great source of information.

Happy Planning!

[kwatson51]

Does anyone have any comment about National Park Retreats in Estes Park Colorado? We are planning a 5 day stay there this June. We typically camp the National Parks but this trip we've chosen to get electric and showers. We prefer to stay away from the highly touristy cg's (Koa). Most of our time in Estes will be spent day hiking. We have been there 3 times before but stayed in cabins at the YMCA.

Secondly, we are heading from Estes to Moab, Utah and could use campground recommendations there as well. Thanks a bunch....

InTheWoods
2001 Jayco 10
Minnesota

We haven't camped in the place you mentioned, but last weekend we camped at "Estes Park Campground", a little further down the road from the YMCA camp.
It was a pleasant place, in the trees, and fairly quiet. They catter to tents and pop-ups, no big RV's. That's where we will stay from now on. We've been to the KOA and Mary's Lake and drove by Spruce Lake.  The latter 2 are basically big parking lots for big RVs.

[JBJennRY]

We recently visited National Park Retreats (two weeks ago).  We made reservations for Memorial Weekend before we even saw the campgound.  We live in the Denver area and can get to Estes Park in 2 hours and decided to take a Sunday family drive to look at the campground and scout other campgrounds.  National Park Retreats was fantastic and beautiful.  We booked site O-6, which is said to be the most popular pop-up site and now we understand without a doubt why it is so popular.  One of the most beautiful sites we have seen.  Rocky Mountain National Park borders on two sides.  Due to all the snow we have had in the area lately, a majority of the campground was closed, but the staff allowed us to hike (in 3 feet of snow) to see our site.  It was worth the site.  The staff was amazing and friendly and we wanted to beginning camping that night.  I would recommend trying to get site O-6, however, any site would be fantastic.  We honeymooned in Estes Park 10 years ago May and we love the town, location, views and people.  Hope this helps.  Happy Camping!

[LimeJeeeep]

marys lake linky don,t worky.like to find out more

[Kelly]

marys lake linky don,t worky.like to find out more

Try this one ... see if that works.

[LimeJeeeep]

thanks added them to favorites :-()

[kwatson51]

Please see reviews from October 2006 re: Estes Park and Mary's Lake.
We've been to both and I'll take EPCG any day.