Estes Park

Arizonaclark wrote:
We are planning a trip to Rocky Mountain NP this July. Has anyone recently driven route 34 from Loveland west to Estes Park and route 36 south to Denver? We will be driving a 40 ft Serengeti towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee. In addition, we may stay in Spruce Lake RV or Elk Meadow RV in Estes. Anyone been there lately and have comments or other suggestions on where to stay in or around Estes?

I love this forum and everyone is always so helpful! Thanks in advance.

I'm up there frequently, as I live in Loveland and get up there every chance I get. US 34 is fine, the temporary roadway CDOT built after the floods is pretty much a duplicate of the original roadway, with the exception of fewer passing lanes between the Narrows and Drake. There should be no problem at all for your rig. I drove US 36 in a prior trip up there (coming back down) and it's fine as well, the work CDOT did is outstanding.

Regarding where to stay, between the two you mentioned, my personal preference is Elk Meadows, simply because it's easier to get in/out, there are pull through sites (none at Spruce Lake), and it just seems more open. BUT...both are way overpriced for what you get.

In addition to checking RV Park Reviews you also may want to check out Mary's Lake, Estes Park Campground at Mary's Lake which is up the hill from Spruce Lake. It was recently taken over by the Estes Park Recreation and Park District, after having been managed by Larimer County Parks for many years. I spoke with them earlier in the year, to find out what they had planned for the site, they indicated they were going to make some improvements to the infrastructure to the campground. I went by there in March (they weren't open) to see if anything had been done, but didn't notice any difference. One of the advantages of Mary's Lake is that their rates are the lowest in the area; $45 for FHU/$40 for water/electric only/$30 for no hookups. The companion campground at East Portal is also nice, but your rig is probably too big to get in there, since there's only a few sites in the front that might be able to handle it.

There's also a new(er) campground, the Drake Campground, that was nearly completely destroyed in the floods of 2013 and has since been rebuilt. When I was by there recently, it looked like they had done a good job of rebuilding and just about ready for the new season. Their website is not up and running yet, so you'd have to call them to get more info, if this one interests you. It's located in Drake, about half way between Estes and Loveland, at the intersection with the Glen Haven Rd.

Hope you enjoy your stay in our beautiful area of the world!

EDITED TO ADD: If you're interested in staying inside RMNP, you'll likely need reservations and it may be too late to get in to Moraine Park. There is a first come/first served loop there, but it fills up fast. Glacier Basin is much more doable, and reservations are a bit easier to get, as well as first come/first served. It's not quite as scenic as Moraine Park, but I enjoy it. I prefer the open loops (C & D) rather than A & B which are more in the trees, and they would probably work better for your size rig, if Glacier Basin interests you.