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Old 05-04-2019, 10:39 AM   #1
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Camping in Colorado this summer?

If you are planning to spend some or all of your summer or fall vacation in cool, colorful Colorado this year, my blog has suggestions for scenic routes, free/inexpensive camping, and not-to-be missed sightseeing opportunities in the Rockies. You can find my blog HERE.
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Old 05-04-2019, 11:26 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by fanrgs View Post
If you are planning to spend some or all of your summer or fall vacation in cool, colorful Colorado this year, my blog has suggestions for scenic routes, free/inexpensive camping, and not-to-be missed sightseeing opportunities in the Rockies. You can find my blog HERE.
This is good stuff and appears to be very accurate and thorough. Nice presentation.
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Old 05-19-2019, 11:16 PM   #3
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Tomorrow and Tuesday, the Colorado mountains are expected to get 10-20 inches of new snow. Even Denver may get a dusting on Tuesday. And there is a good chance that Trail Ridge Road in RMNP may not be open by its normal opening date of Memorial Day weekend.

So, those planning early June RV trips to the Rockies should bring some warm clothes and full propane tanks as you will more likely be running the furnace than the AC!
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Old 05-21-2019, 10:42 AM   #4
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Spring has arrived! My back yard in SW Denver on May 21, 2019:

[IMG][/IMG]

And this was nothing compared to what many mountain areas are still getting!
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Old 05-21-2019, 11:20 AM   #5
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That pic looks like my house (25 miles north of Denver).

Colorado in May is just infuriating. Constant whiplash. Yay, warm weather. Crap, snow. Yay, warm weather. Crap, not so fast.

Fortunately, we had no Memorial Day plans this year ... even the front range foothills are going to be highs in the low 50s with clouds and rain. That's a bit cold for my family.

Really looking forward to some stable weather and some June camping trips!
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Old 05-21-2019, 11:22 AM   #6
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Daughter's house in CO Springs, north part.
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Old 05-21-2019, 12:48 PM   #7
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Quote:
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Daughter's house in CO Springs, north part.
Yeah, we are going camping in RMNP this weekend. 8250' Could be a little cold. [emoji1]
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Old 05-21-2019, 01:20 PM   #8
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Yeah, we are going camping in RMNP this weekend. 8250' Could be a little cold. [emoji1]
The weather report looks really rough. My family would kill me. Good luck.
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Old 05-25-2019, 11:23 PM   #9
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There was a little bit of snow on Thursday, but Friday and Saturday were great.
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Old 06-02-2019, 09:39 AM   #10
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Just spent a week in Craig Colorado, and we stayed in the Yampa River State Park. Very nice park, with 30 amp power and nice dump station for $40 per night. Campsites very widely space out. Close and convenient to Hayden and Steamboat Springs.
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Old 06-10-2019, 10:15 AM   #11
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Brian,
Glad it worked out. I was literally thinking about you over Memorial Day weekend. Weather reports around here are generally pretty stable, but that one did, in fact, change significantly. So, it looked like decent weather. I think it always snows a tiny bit during memorial Day camping, but as long as the sun comes out later, all is good.

Blank,
Always wondered about Yampa. I've stayed at Stagecoach Lake SP (south of Steamboat) and was scheduled to spend Labor Day at Steamboat Lake SP (north of Steamboat). They're all a bit more barren than I prefer, but it's still pretty country.
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Old 06-10-2019, 11:02 AM   #12
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When the Yampa was dammed up to create Stagecoach Reservoir, to me, the finest stretch for beauty and fishing the Yampa was deleted. Time marches on I guess.
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Old 06-16-2019, 09:42 AM   #13
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I'm coming up to the Boulder area 7/4 through 7/7 for the Dead and Company shows. I waited till the last minute so all the reserved RV sites in a 50mi radius are booked up.

Here is my plan:

Plan A: The Boulder County Fairgrounds RV Park is a first come, first serve no reservation place. I' figure it will be occupied and nobody will be leaving on the 4th when I arrive but I guess I'll give it a shot.

Plan B: Reserve a place outside that 50mi radius and drive in and out for the shows. Not my preference but the wife said she would be my DD.

I don't have a generator as I don't plan on dry camping much and I'm not sure I could find a place to dry camp closer to Boulder then I could find a RV site with hookups.
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Old 06-16-2019, 11:24 AM   #14
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Depending on the size of your camper there are several non reservable NFS campsites between Estes and Rollinsville. Also you can camp in the National Forest anywhere for free that is an established campsite, ie has a fire ring or has obviously been camped at before.

Good luck, it's hard to find camping close to Boulder on a regular weekend and you picked probably the absolute worst weekend to try finding a spot along the Front range at the last minute.
You might try Hipcamp app, like Airbnb for camping, you might get lucky.
You also might check the State parks the day of, people always cancel and if it is within 24 hours they don't post the availability online you need to call or go there to check.
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Old 06-16-2019, 11:32 AM   #15
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Depending on the size of your camper there are several non reservable NFS campsites between Estes and Rollinsville. Also you can camp in the National Forest anywhere for free that is an established campsite, ie has a fire ring or has obviously been camped at before.

Good luck, it's hard to find camping close to Boulder on a regular weekend and you picked probably the absolute worst weekend to try finding a spot along the Front range at the last minute.
You might try Hipcamp app, like Airbnb for camping, you might get lucky.
You also might check the State parks the day of, people always cancel and if it is within 24 hours they don't post the availability online you need to call or go there to check.
You might try Harvest Hosts. The are a couple of spots around Longmont.
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Old 06-17-2019, 08:01 PM   #16
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Cisco, if you haven't already looked at it, try the Carter Lake campground near Loveland and Horsetooth Reservoir near Ft. Collins. Both have electric sites and non-hookup sites. Although both lakes are owned and operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, they are Larimer County-run parks. More info HERE.
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Old 06-17-2019, 11:00 PM   #17
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Thanks for all the tips folks! I got lucky today and got the last spot with hook ups at a place I called today, Prospect RV Park, about 30 mins from Boulder. I plan to use yalls recommendations on my subsequent trips to CO as they are more scenic, etc.
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Old 06-17-2019, 11:36 PM   #18
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Be sure to post your impressions of Prospect RV Park. My impression from years of driving by it on 44th Avenue is that it is filled year-round with mostly permanent residents. And that it seldom had any spaces available for short-time campers. So, you are very fortunate!
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Old 07-10-2019, 07:11 PM   #19
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Be sure to post your impressions of Prospect RV Park. My impression from years of driving by it on 44th Avenue is that it is filled year-round with mostly permanent residents. And that it seldom had any spaces available for short-time campers. So, you are very fortunate!

We enjoyed the Prospect RV park. We had a pull through site with elec and wate, no sewer. The staff was super friendly and helpful. The park does have some permanent residents, but I would estimate that was only about half of the folks there. The city park right next to the RV park was awesome. Lakes, trails, etc. It gave you the best of both worlds: an urban RV park with the outdoors right there. I'll stay here again for sure.



I'll have a complete write up on our 2k mile inaugural road trip from Austin to Denver. Here are some pics of the park.




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Old 07-15-2019, 09:53 PM   #20
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Glad you had a good experience at Prospect Park! You are the first short-timer I have heard from who has stayed there, so now I can recommend it to friends and relatives when they are in the area.

Was not having a FHU site a problem for you?
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