With Rocky Mountain National Park’s largest campground shutting down this summer for a modernization project, reducing available campsites on the eastern side of the park by more than half, ripple effects are apt to be felt at campgrounds across the Front Range.
The closure of the Moraine Park Campground means 244 fewer sites for 2023, and it figures to put more pressure on nearby campgrounds in the adjacent Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests, which spreads out along the Continental Divide from Clear Creek County to the Wyoming border, and it ranks as the third-busiest in the U.S.
“Our reservable campgrounds are in high demand,” said Reid Armstrong, Arapaho & Roosevelt spokesperson. “There’s seven and a half million people visiting our forests every year, and a lot of them want to camp. Planners need to be on it, planning their trips now.”
To help, the forest service met with the national park few weeks ago, Armstrong said. “We are going to be working with Rocky Mountain National Park, their front desk and their volunteers, to do some training and provide some information about dispersed camping. We’re going to be putting something together so they can provide some of that information to their visitors.”
There are seven national forest campgrounds with 252 campsites located along the Peak to Peak Highway between Estes Park and Nederland, including two within 15 miles of the park’s eastern entrance gates. Armstrong also suggests campers consider options on the west side of the park. There are 15 national forest campgrounds with more than 400 sites there, four of those located within 15 miles of the park’s Grand Lake entrance. There also is a campground on the western side of the park, eight miles north of the Grand Lake entrance, with 98 sites.
Another option is dispersed camping on national forest land, although that means going without amenities, potable water or trash receptacles, not to mention burying human waste and practicing “Leave No Trace” guidelines. It also means bringing extra water to douse campfires.
Knowing where dispersed camping is allowed can be tricky. It’s important to make sure the place you pick isn’t on private land. Armstrong recommends the Avenza app as a good source of free forest service maps that can help users figure out where camping is permitted. They can be downloaded ahead of time so they are available in areas without cell service. The app also can geolocate users on maps so they can confirm they are on forest service land.
“Dispersed camping requires a little more preparation, some research, a lot of patience and willingness to be a little more adventuresome,” Armstrong said.
Rules for dispersed camping require setting up at least 150 feet from a roadway and at least 100 feet from a stream or other water source, packing out trash and burying human waste six inches deep. If fire bans aren’t in effect, campers should use existing fire rings or build a rock ring about two feet in diameter. When extinguished, they should be cold to the touch.
Armstrong has some other tips for finding campground reservations this summer.
“I would highly recommend considering taking that weekday trip, because a lot of our campgrounds are still available early in the week,” Armstrong said. “A lot of our campgrounds have first come, first served spaces. There’s still opportunities for people who are willing and wanting to be adventurous, willing to maybe not find a place at the first campground they go to. You have to have that time and patience and preparation, even if you’re just going to wing it.”
More information vacation planners need to know before making camping reservations in Colorado:
Reservations for campground sites in most national parks and national forests are made through recreation.gov, with reservations becoming available six months in advance. Reservations for Colorado state parks also become available six months in advance, but they are made through the Colorado Parks and Wildlife camping webpage.
Mesa Verde National Park camping reservations are made through a concessionaire, not recreation.gov.
Summer wilderness backpacking permits in Rocky Mountain National Park went on sale last week.
Wilderness backpacking permits for the Indian Peaks Wilderness go on sale next week.
A limited number of campground sites in Rocky Mountain National Park will be released two weeks in advance, and many campsites in national forests remain available on a first come, first served basis.
The best source for information regarding campgrounds in the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests is its homepage. Click on Campgrounds and you’ll see a list of them all.
The best source for an overview of campgrounds in Colorado’s 11 national forests is the Interactive Visitor Map maintained by the forest service. Zoom in from the national map to Colorado and then zoom in on specific areas around the state. From there you can click on locations to find out which national forest they are in. Then you can click to specific campground information via that forest’s webpage.
Rocky Mountain National Park also has tweaked some policies for its timed-entry permit system for day use visitors this year. Permits go on sale beginning May 1 through recreation.gov. Changes include:
The hours when reservations will be required for areas of the park that don’t include Bear Lake Road will be in effect from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Last year they were required until 3 p.m. Reservations for the Bear Lake corridor will be required from 5 a.m. until 6 p.m., as they were last year.
Timed-entry permits will be required from Memorial Day weekend until Oct. 22. Last year they were required until Oct. 10.
40% of all reservations will be released on recreation.gov the previous day at 5 p.m.
