We camped in Moraine Park Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park in September 2017, and had a lovely experience! Whenever I camp, I try to find a more secluded site on the outskirts of the campground - we chose site 154 in loop D, and it was perfect! The site was in the very back of the campground, had a large distance between the two neighboring sites, and faced the mountains.

WARNING: You ARE in bear country - be bear smart and safe and use your bear box! We had our own bear box in our campsite - I believe each site has its own food locker. Try to lock all of your food and toiletries inside the food locker - they are large, and we have always been able to fit our big cooler into locker. If you do have to leave a cooler in the car, I was once told by a ranger in Yosemite NP that bears can recognize coolers when peering into car windows - he suggested putting put a towel and gear over your coolers when keeping them in the car overnight in bear territory.

The site also had a leveled tent pad - it’s nice not having to try to level your tent site on your own so you don’t have to dig rocks out of your back in the middle of the night. The site had lots of trees, where we set up a hammock. The fire pit had a very nice cooking grate - we always bring a small collapsable grate in case the fire ring doesn’t have one, but no need to use it this time!

The only downside to the more secluded site was that we had to pack our gear about 60 yards from the car to the site - not far at all, but when we car-camp we pack heavily, but that’s our own fault. Having the bear box to store everything in made it so we didn’t have to make trips back and forth from the car for the entire stay.

As we were in the back of the campground, we were facing the mountains. There were horse trails and game trails - we some horseback riders and some deer wandered through our campsite.

The bathrooms in Moraine park were clean, but if you require showers, there are no showers in the campground; there are, however, shower stalls where you can hang up your own solar shower.

We camped in Moraine Park shortly after Labor Day, and since it was nearing fall, there were large herds of elk down in the Moraine Park Valley - we could hear them in the evenings and early morning hours. The noise is eerie if you are not familiar with elk calls, but we thought it was very neat to hear.

Beware of elk (especially in the fall -mating season). Just so you are aware - you will see large fences throughout the park, some of which have gates that visitors can enter. The gates are designed to keep the wildlife contained and off the roads, or to keep them out of certain little ecosystems. When we first got into RMNP, we parked by the Colorado River that is flowing through Moraine Park, and came across one of the gates to the fenced in area. The only signs we saw read to not climb on the gates, and to please close the gate behind you. We entered the gate, and followed a game trail through some tall grasses.

When we got farther into the field, we realized that the things that appeared to be small dead tree branches were not branches at all, but the antlers of a bull elk who was laying down in the grass. He became aware of us and stood up, followed by dozens of female elk that had been completely hidden from the tall grasses. We slowly retreated back towards a small patch of trees, and stood there to watch the elk. The bull elk spotted a a younger male across the meadow, and began to bugle at him - it was mating season, so our bull did not want the younger, smaller bull near his hareem. The bull elk was traveling away from us, so we felt like we would wait by the trees until he was farther away.

As we stayed in the trees and watched the elk, we became aware of somebody coming down the hill towards us. Once he got our attention, he slowly beckoned us to come towards him, so we did. The man was a park ranger, and come to get us away from the elk. He said that nobody should be inside the fence past 5pm, as that is around the time when the elk return from the shady protection of the trees and back out into the open meadow. The ranger told us that the particular elk we were watching had been aggressive towards humans in the last week, having chased a cyclist and a photographer who had gotten too close. The moral of this story is that you need to be hyper aware of the wildlife around you, and try to research where you can and cannot go inside a National Park.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $26/night

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Water: Yes

Showers: NO - there are stalls for personal solar showers

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grates: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: NO

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: Yes

Trash: Yes