Rocky Mountain RV Park and Lodge - Gardiner, Montana (June 2018)

Fishing Bridge is the only campground inside Yellowstone National Park that offers full hookups. As you would imagine, it is very difficult to make reservations there because that campground fills up very quickly.

Yellowstone National Park

To make matters worse, there is a major road construction project on the road leading to the campground plus the campground will close later this year for a complete renovation. No, we were not successful getting in this campground and ended up having to camp outside the north entrance to Yellowstone.

Heading into Yellowstone

That was a shame because I remember camping in Yellowstone with my parents when I was probably 11 years old and my mental pictures of camping there are cherished memories. 

If you know Yellowstone, the north entrance is in Montana. There are several private campgrounds there that are close to the park and offer full hookups, something that makes camping a better experience for us. 

Driving from the Tetons, we drove through Yellowstone on the western loop. This allowed us to stop at Old Faithful and several other well known attractions along the way. There was plenty of parking around Old Faithful for our truck and Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer. The other attractions we visited didn’t have parking lots big enough to accommodate Rosie. That meant one of us had to circle the parking loop with Rosie in tow while the other ran along the path to the attraction. As awkward as that sounds, it worked out okay and allowed us to see the places we did not want to miss.

Old Faithful

The Paint Pots

This path also took us across about a dozen miles of roadwork. Make that a dozen miles of single-lane washboard dirt/mud road that covered Rosie with caked-on mud. A scary comment we heard on the radio we used to talk with the other Airstreamers in our group was that this section of road was similar to some of the roads traveled on the WBCCI Alaskan Caravan. The exception is that the washboard dirt road in Alaska is more than 100 miles long. I would hate to see Rosie after being on that road!

We exited the park and drove through the Rockefeller Arch. Our campground was about a mile from the arch. The park’s entrance was up a steep hill. As we arrived in a group, we ended up having to wait for the Airstreamers in front of us to get their parking assignments. That turned out to be a problem because there was some loose gravel on the road and that caused us to slip some as we tried to resume heading up hill after being stopped for a few minutes.

Rockefeller Arch

Our site was in the upper loop. The campground host didn’t have to tell us twice to have some speed to make it up the hill to the top loop. Our entrance into the park was enough to convince us that we needed to be aggressive when climbing gravel roads. 

The campground is in a great location for visiting Yellowstone National Park. We went on a wildlife tour bus looking for grizzly bears, black bears, moose, elk, bison, deer, mountain goats, coyotes, sheep and wolves. We were successful with all except for wolves.

Grizzly bear in Yellowstone

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was gravel and very close to being level 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• Our site was closer to our campground neighbors than we are used to in most campgrounds
• The park had clean restrooms and showers 
• The park provided basic cable TV service 
• AT&T placed a weak 3G signal over our site. It was good enough for voice but too slow for data
• The park provided a slow WiFi service that was more irritating than effective 
• There was a good laundry facility in the campground 

The weather caused some excitement while we were visiting Yellowstone.  It snowed on us as we drove through the park one day. While that was amazing to us, people living there said that wasn’t unusual.

River in  Yellowstone

Rosie in the campground

Moose in  Yellowstone

Rosie as we travel through Yellowstone National Park

Our Yellowstone tour bus

Colter Bay RV Campground at Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming (June 2018)

There’s no mistaking the first time you see the Grand Teton Mountains. They are amazing and you immediately recognize the differences between the Tetons and the Rockies. This isn’t to imply that the Rockies are not beautiful, because they are. It’s just that the Tetons take your breath away every time you see them.

Grand Teton National Park

A National Park Ranger said that once you see the Tetons, you will return. There may be something to that since returning to the Tetons was on both of our lists. 

Unlike most campgrounds in national parks, Colter Bay has full hookups. That means we had electric, water and sewer connections while camping there in Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer. Another nice feature is that the campground appeared to be carved around the trees and this gives you the feeling that you are in the woods.

Rosie in Colter Bay RV Campground

Of course, no one wants to hang around the campground when you are in the Tetons. The jagged and snow-capped mountains and the abundant wildlife are enough to get you driving through the park every day while there. 

Speaking of wildlife, we saw a moose at Schwabachers Landing.

Moose at Schwabachers Landing

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site had 30 and 20 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• Our site was not paved. Perhaps the best description of our site was to call it “forest floor.”
• Our site was not level. We didn’t have enough leveling tools to get Rosie near level
• Our site was very shaded
• There were “bear warnings” throughout the campground. We didn’t see any bears near our park 
• There were several restrooms scattered around the park. The one closest to our site was clean and heated, an appreciated condition on cold mornings 
• Shower stalls were next to the general store, which was outside the camping loops. Bring a pocket full of quarters if you want to take a shower because the park charges an arm and a leg for showers 
• We were unsuccessful in receiving any TV signals using Rosie’s antenna 
• We had no voice and data service on our AT&T iPhones

It was great to be able to camp in the Grand Tetons National Park.

The mountains

The Teton Mountains

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The Chapel

Fly Fishing in Grand Teton National Park

A mountain stream

Shopping on the way to Colter Bay

Pine Forest RV Park - Dutch John, Utah (June 2018)

This campground was a welcomed relief after a couple days of dry camping in 90+ degrees heat. The first thing we did after arriving was connect the power so that we could switch on Rosie’s (our 25 foot Airstream trailer) air conditioner. It felt great to feel the temperature inside Rosie return to “comfortable.”

Checking in at Pine Forest RV Park

A young deer came up to our truck when we check in to this campground. That deer would follow us around several times during our visit to Pine Forest RV Park.

The park's "pet" deer

Backing into our campsite was more of a challenge than it should have been. Our site was perpendicular to the road and had trees lining both sides of the site. This presented a challenge to getting in our site.

Rosie in the campground

The park featured a large grassy area in its middle. This helped the park to feel very spacious for the campers parked on the inside rows. The campers parked along the outside row were able to watch the cows graze near the fence.

Area behind Rosie's site

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had both water and sewer connections 
• Our site was gravel and level 
• AT&T placed a weak signal over our site 
• The park provided WiFi but it was very slow and difficult to use
• We were able to pick up one TV station using Rosie’s antenna. We were able to watch FOX and digital channels Antenna and Stadium 
• The park had very clean and well maintained restrooms and showers
• The park had a laundry room that was well used by the guests 

The park's staff was very responsive to our requests. There were a couple of things we needed help with and the staff quickly came to our aid. 

Dutch John, Utah

Flaming Gorge

Becky at Flaming Gorge

Green River Campground- Dinosaur National Monument- Utah (June 2018)

Green River Campground is in Dinosaur National Monument. Similar to most other campgrounds in National Park’s and National Monuments, this park offers dry camping.

On the road to Green River Campground

For people not tuned-in to camping lingo, dry camping means you don’t have any utilities at that campsite. In other words, no electric, no water and no sewer. Nothing. 

Another way of thinking about it is to realize that dry camping turned Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, into something comparable to a tent. Well, maybe a very nice tent. 

Utah was looking at some record breaking temperatures when we arrived. It was 97 outside while we were setting up and it was 97 inside Rosie. It did cool down to a comfortable “sleeping” temperature around 11p.m., but strong winds kicked up and I noticed the people in the Airstream trailers around us were taking down their awnings while I was doing the same with Rosie. 

Clouds the next day kept the afternoon temperature below 95. As silly as it sounds, it was still too hot but not as hot as the day before. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site, along with all of the others, was dry camping without any utilities 
• Our site was paved and level
• Roads in the campground were paved
• The campground had several bathrooms with flush toilets
• There wasn’t a shower facility in the campground 
• Campers were allowed to run generators from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Here is a random observation about dry camping in National Parks when the temperature is above 90. We couldn’t help but notice the large number of RVs running their generators. You also heard them and you could smell the exhaust all day long. If the purpose for this was to lessen pollution in the parks, let me suggest that this is a failure. Power connections at the campsites coming from a regulated power plant would do more to help with pollution than pretending the many generators in the campground are not part of the problem. 

Dinosaur National Monument

Dinosaur Bones

Dinosaur National Monument

Becky rode a raft on the Green River

James M. Robb Colorado River State Park Fruita Section - Colorado (June 2018)

We have camped in many state parks over the years. Our early visits were using tents. Now we camp in Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer.

We have come to expect certain standards from state parks. For example, state parks tend to have a natural feature that shows off one of the state's wonders. Many of these parks are best described as “rugged” and have only water and electrical connections.

Sign  at the campground

There are exceptions and this park is one. 

The natural feature in this park was the river that flowed through it. Contrary to many state parks, this park wasn’t rugged and had paved roads and our site had full hookups.

Rosie in the campground

Another anomaly with this park was its location. Most state parks seem to be located in the country. This park was just off the Interstate. Directions to the park include “turn at the Dairy Queen.” As expected, you heard road noises and passing trains while camping here. 

There was a long hiking/biking trail along the river. Both campers and local people seemed to enjoy this path.

The river

Trail  along the river

The river

Colorado State Parks do a couple of things that annoyed us. For example, you have to pay for a daily pass after paying a premium for your campsite. Another “nickel-and-dime” deal was the shower. For four quarters, you received four minutes of water. The sign in the shower said they charged to encourage water conservation. If water conservation was an issue, they should try turning the water sprinklers off. They appeared to cycle on and off all day. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru. Some sites in this park were back-ins
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had water and sewer connections. Not all sites had sewer connections 
• The park had a clean and well maintained bathroom and showers. Bring four quarters if you want a four minute shower 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided three bars of 4G service over our site. This signal worked well for voice and so-so for data
•  Rosie's TV antenna picked up ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. We also saw digital channels Antenna, Escape, Grit, ME-TV and THiS. 

This was a very pleasant park to camp in for a few days. 

Colorado National Monument

The Colorado National Monument

The Colorado National Monument

The Colorado National Monument

Sunset over the campground

Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch- Gunnison, Colorado (May 2018)

This is the first time we camped in a place that billed itself as a ranch. Our mental vision of the Cartwright boys on the Ponderosa Ranch was very different from what we encountered at this RV ranch. For example, I don’t remember seeing Hoss or Little Joe Cartwright having to contend with blowing dust. But, the reality at the RV ranch was that dust was a way of life.

Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch

First, this is a membership type park. You are supposed to buy something similar to a timeshare to camp in this park. Unsold and unused sites are rented out on a day-by-day basis.

Sign at the entrance to the campground

As with most campgrounds, there are positives and negatives about this park. I’ll start by pointing out some of the positives I noticed. 

• The park had a nice swimming pool
• The park had a hot tub
• The park had a good clubhouse 
• The park's chef cooked huge cinnamon rolls ($1.50) and biscuts with sausage gravy ($2.50) one morning while we were there

Some of the “not so positive” things I noticed:

• Our site was mostly dirt with a few stones thrown in
• Some people in our caravan were unable to level their trailers and had to be reassigned to a different site
• Utility connections were a distance from the trailers. We ended up with a 20+ foot run to the sewer connection. Several Airstreamers in our group ended up having to use the dump station because they could not reach the sewer connection 
• Our water connection was in a deep trench. To make things worse, the trench was on a hill. This made working with the water both scary and dangerous 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site had 20 and 30 amp electrical service. According to AllStays, the park does not have 50 amp service 
• Our site was one of the few in our caravan group that approached level
• We had no service from AT&T at our site
• You could purchase WiFi service from the park. Several of our friends said the purchased WiFi was terrible. 
• Our site had a cable TV connection that brought in ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC from Denver
• The park had clean and up-to-date restrooms and showers. An annoyance was that the showers operated by pushing a button that would give you about 30 seconds of water at a temperature set by the park. 
• The park had a nice laundry facility 

The big draw for the timeshare was the watershed lake created by the dam about a mile down the road. Many of the people camping here brought their boats and spent their days on the lake.

The park a few miles from the campground

Our group at Black Canyon National Park

Garden of the Gods RV Resort- Colorado Springs, Colorado (May 2018)

The ride between Estes Park and Colorado Springs was eventful. Our caravan took the backroads so that we could enjoy the scenery and avoid Colorado's Memorial Day traffic. What should have been a two hour trip turned into a six hour drive because the holiday traffic was heavy and there were too many easy-to-miss turns. On a more positive note, we learned that we can pull Rosie, out 25 foot Airstream trailer, through the Rocky Mountains and turn around when we need to.

Looking at the side mirrors while on the way to Colorado Springs

Our first impression of Colorado Springs was tainted by a major road construction project that engulfed the park's entrance. We had to squeeze Rosie between concrete barriers and clouds of dust to navigate into the park.

Arriving at the campground

We were escorted to our site by someone from the park. Our site was short. Very short. Too short. Rosie barely fit in it and we had to park our truck across the street. We weren’t alone as all of the campers on our row also barely fit into their sites. 

Rosie parked in the Garden of the Gods RV Resort

The campground staff was impatient and kept trying to hurry us as we unhitched since we were partiality blocking the road. I’m not sure why we were being hurried because everyone on our row was also blocking the road while disconnecting.

We arrived on a holiday weekend and the park was full with families kicking off their camping season after a long winter. Needless to say, there were many excited children in the park and that made it very festive. 

The view outside our panaramic window was of a retaining wall about a foot behind Rosie. Instead of looking at concrete, we simply kept the curtains closed on that window.

There are some amazing natural sights to see around this park. Weather and time have worked together to sculpt some breathtaking rock formations. 

Garden of the Gods

Helping with the Balanced Rock

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had both water and sewer connections 
• Our site was gravel and not level
• The park provided WiFi, but it was terrible. It was annoyingly slow and required you to constantly keep logging back in with their passcode. 
• We had no AT&T phone or data service from our site
• The park provided a cable TV connection. We only saw one station using their cable. 
• We raised Rosie’s TV antenna and saw ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS and NBC. We also saw digital channels Antenna, Escape, Grit, ME-TV and THiS
• The park had two swimming pools 
• The park had a nice laundry room. 

One of the drawbacks to this park was the sketchy looking people outside the park who would occasionally drift through the campsites. We felt we needed to be very diligent in making sure nothing was left outside and that everything was constantly locked away. Our instincts may have been on-track since a bicycle was stolen from one member of our caravan.

Enjoying a Native American dance at the Garden of the Gods

Riding on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad