Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Resort - Estes Park, Colorado (May 2018)

Before starting our Airstream Springtime in the Rockies Caravan adventure, we knew we needed some time to get used to the altitude in the mountains. After all, going from an elevation of 221 feet to nearly 8,000 can cause physical problems for some people. We arrived at the caravan's rendezvous location five days early to make sure we were ready to participate once the other 25 Airstream trailers and motor homes arrived.

Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Resort

Better make that before 24 Airstreams arrived because one from our group was already set up in the park when we backed in to our site. We were not the only people thinking we needed some time to adjust to the altitude!

Rosie in the campground

We were not surprised when other members of our group started arriving early. Nearly half of the rigs in our caravan were in the park three days before our official start date. This gave us an opportunity to meet some of our fellow campers who would be with us on this adventure.

Other Airstream trailers arrive

The views outside Rosie’s windows were breathtaking. (Rosie is our 25 foot Airstream trailer.) We were staring at the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Google Maps helped us figure out that Long's Peak was framed in Rosie’s panoramic window. This is the tallest peak in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Long's Peak

The temperatures dipped below freezing several times during our visit to this campground. Rosie’s heaters were up to the task and kept us warm during these times. 

Watching out for elk grazing on the vegetation became one of our favorite pastimes in Estes Park.

Elk in the campground

It was amazing how this campground changed as Memorial Day Weekend approached. It was about one-third full on Friday morning. The park approached capacity by that afternoon. This placed a strain on the campground's facilities. Of course, the staff didn’t help the situation by locking the bathhouse and restroom that served our area from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. every day. To make matters worse, the staff usually unlocked the bathhouse then immediately closed it for another 30-45 minutes for cleaning. We were puzzled by this policy as to how it served their paying customers. 

Of course, the real star of this area was Rocky Mountain National Park. One of the roads leading into the park ran parallel to one side of the campground. That meant we were close to some of the hiking trails and sights of this incredible national park.

Rocky Mountain National Park

There were water issues while we were in this campground. Water was suddenly turned off for an hour at a time to repair the water connection at one site and the water to the entire campground was turned off for about three hours when a water main broke. We felt sorry for anyone who may have been caught in the showers when the water was turned off. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• This is a large campground with approximately 200 sites
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had water and sewer connections 
• Our site had a basic TV cable connection that delivered 36 channels 
• We were unable to pick up over-the-air TV stations
• The park provided a decent WiFi signal over the park 
• AT&T placed two bars of 4G voice and data service over our campsite 
• The park had a good laundry room
• The park had clean and well maintained restrooms and showers. We discussed earlier in this posting the park's practice of closing the restroom serving more than a third of the park after dark and until 8 a.m. This didn’t make sense to us. 

We enjoyed watching the critters in the campground. It was full of what we think were uinta ground squirrels. They were interesting to watch as they scurried around the many campsites. 

It was fun to watch the elk that roamed the campground in the evenings. We got the feeling that the elk actually owned the place and we were in their backyard. 

We were surprised at how fast the weather changed while we were camping in Estes Park. It would be cold in the mornings and warm in the afternoons. Thunderstorms were common in the afternoons. In fact, we had a hail storm on Tuesday. Moments later, the ground squirrels and the elk were grazing by the empty campsites.

Snow in the Rockes

Heavy Duty Snow Plow

Church near the campground

Rainbow over Rosie