Hi..have read reviews and wonder what area to stay in August..planning ahead.Thanks

A.E.,

I have stayed at 3 of the RV parks in the Estes Park (on the east side of RMNP) area in the past 10 years. One, the Estes Park Campground at Marys Lake was quite a while ago and it really gets up and down reviews on this site. The other two (the Estes Park KOA and Elk Meadows Ridge Lodge and RV Park) were just a couple years ago. The KOA is one the east side of Estes Park which means you will have to drive through town each time you want to go to RMNP if you are using the KOA as a base camp. The sites in this park are also on the small/tight side in a terraced layout. The Elk Meadows Ridge Lodge and RV Park has good FHU sites, some nice amenities, and is just outside the Beaver Meadows entrance to RMNP.

The RV parks on the west side of the park near Grand Lake are fewer and have less in the realm of facilities and amenities..

Are you planning to stay only one or two nights, or for a longer period? This park is beautiful and there is a lot to see, but it is not one like Yellowstone that takes a week or more to see.

We were planning on staying 3-4 nights as we are traveling far to get there form Fl. Then we are going to Cody and South Dakota after that. Would appreciate any advice on how long to stay as we like to hike and drive around..aimlessly at times! What else do RV folks do? Ha! Thanks for any help. A.E.

We visited RMNP last year at the end of June. There was still lots of snow on the ground especially where it is piled up from clearing the roads. I can't help you with specific comments on a Estes campground because we did a day trip from one of the nicer CGs in Loveland. If you want to widen your search, that's only about a 30 minute drive.

We did look around in the St Mary's Lake CG only because we went by it on the way out of RMNP. As was mentioned before, it does have varied reviews. But it did appear that the location may allow a less trafficked access to the national park.

I agree with Kirk on the time it takes to view the park. We only spent a full day there. If a modest amount of hiking is included, I suspect that one could do it all in a two day period. That would also depend on how many stops you make to take moose pictures.

I've also been to Cody and just about everywhere in the southwestern section of SD. It's purely a personal opinion, but if I were time limited, I would spend as much as possible in SW South Dakota.

Have fun.