The bathrooms are very clean and that’s something that’s very important to me. We went the weekend after Fourth of July and the bathrooms weren’t ever crowded from what I saw. Everyone was far enough apart.
Their store is well stocked, everyone was helpful. The animals were adorable. Horseback riding was fun, staff was friendly. Gumdrop is my buddy.
The ground is more dirt than grass at site 106 and the tent sites near it. Can hear the horses neighing. Close enough to hear neighbors talking or singing loudly or closing car doors. Heard a lot of vehicles passing by at night, people returning to their sites. 106 had some decent trees to hang hammocks from, the others nearby didn’t from what I saw. Very windy, not much shade. Next time I’d like to be at the grassier tent sites with more shade.
My groundhog stakes went in the ground just fine and did not come out super easy. There were some broken plastic yellow stakes left on the ground from previous occupants.
Playground was small and looked nice. There’s a bocce ball court with a basketball hoop. Spigots for drinking water all around. Water was delicious and refreshing.
It was my first time going to one of these places and it was a good experience. Will be coming back. There was also a young moose wandering around. This was my first camping experience as an adult so I did not know this: you need a reservation just to DRIVE through the national park to get to Estes. After 3pm you don’t, and you still need to pay a fee. Just a heads up for other newbies like me.
Note: I did email them twice, two different ways (through their form on the website, and direct email) and they never responded. We did get a hold of them over the phone very easily though. Their map says one tent per site, and when we called they said two tents are alright. No campfires allowed when we were there. Only fuel fires that you can turn off. Dogs are supposed to remain on leash. We saw a lot that weren’t and it must be because they are well behaved. Horses, and a donkey walk around like they own the place. The building at the back that’s supposed to have laundry and bathrooms wasn’t finished and therefore wasn’t open during our stay.
