Rocky Mountain National Park

[Brantime]

Rocky Mountain National Park
July 1-7, 2006
Glacier Basin Campground
Dry Camping

My DW, DD, and myself loaded up our PU and left East Texas to the Rockies for a wonderful week of camping in the high country. We arrived in Estes Park, Co. on Saturday afternoon and ran into a traffic jam...Elk were crossing the main street downtown! We saw 25-30 head of Elk on the golf course (and yes people were just playing through, lol). We also ran across 10-12 Elk laying in a shade covered yard, with one sticking her head up to the window listening to the TV through the open window, lol!

Considering that this was the 4th of July week, I was pleasantly surprised that the Park was not as busy or as crowded, as I had thought it might be on a holiday!

We choose the Glacier Basin campground after doing a little research online. This campground has three large loops, and is situated in a Pine Forest. The campground is at 8900' elevation and backs up to the base of the mountains, so the nights were cool (in the 40's).

Glacier Basin is at the end of a road so there is no admittance without a campground pass, which really cuts down on the traffic inside the campground!

Each spot was fairly large, came equip with a picnic table, large grill/fire ring, and was covered with gravel. All of the campsites had a lot of shade.

The restrooms were located at the end of the circles, had flush toilets, hot water in the sinks, and an outside sink for washing up any dishes. (Sorry, no showers)

There were nightly Ranger led activities at the Amphitheater consisting of campfires, talks, stories, and short night hikes, etc.

We observed mule deer feeding around the PU each morning while laying in bed looking out the screened window!

The entire Rocky Mountain National Park is a wonderful experience with wildlife sightings everywhere, majestic peaks with snow still on the ground in July, breathtaking views along the roads that led up into the top of the Rockies! There are hikes that range from easy to difficult, short to extremely long...something for everyone:)

I would rate this a 10 out of 10 on my scale of camping experiences!

We will be going back to Estes Park in September 2007 for the Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highlands Festival, during our 5 week, four state, anniversary vacation!

We will be staying in the Glacier Basin Campground again on this visit!

[kwatson51]

Good to hear y'all had a great time!
The Scottish/Irish Festival is well worth going to. Be sure to catch the parade on Saturday morning. We've been the last 2 years and have thoroughly enjoyed it.
We generally stay in a private campground just outside the Park, but will make it a point to stay at Glacier sometime in the not-too-distant-future.