Standard (tent/RV)
Group
RV Sites
Tent Sites
Fires Allowed
Pets Allowed
No Drinking Water
About Olive Ridge
The Olive Ridge Campground is located within the Roosevelt National Forest, situated near the southeastern corner of Rocky Mountain National Park at an elevation of 8,350 feet.
Recreation
Olive Ridge is close to the Wild Basin area of the Rocky Mountain National Park. Several trailheads are in the area, including Wild Basin, Finch Lake and Sandbeach Lake trails. Popular activities include fishing, hiking and mountain climbing.
Facilities
There are 56 sites in the campground. Twenty six are suitable for RV camping and 30 are more suitable for tents. Tents must be confined to the provided tent pads (14'x16'). There is a maximum of eight people per single site. Sites #26 and #39 are oversized and will accommodate 10 people at an additional fee. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring or grill. Vault toilets, andd trash services are provided. Firewood is for sale in the campground.
Natural Features
This peaceful campground is heavily wooded with a mixture of ponderosa pine and aspen trees. The interior roads are gravel/dirt.
Afternoon thunderstorms should be expected during the summer months.
Nearby Attractions
Rocky Mountain National Park's main entrance is 14 miles north of the campground, in Estes Park. With lush valleys and craggy peaks reaching elevations higher than 14,000 feet, visitors are provided opportunities for countless breathtaking experiences and adventures. Scenic driving, hiking, backpacking, fishing, horseback riding and wildlife viewing are popular activities in the park.
Estes Park is a full-service community 15 miles from the campground. Dining, shopping, rafting, fly fishing, horseback riding and golfing opportunities await. Lake Estes offers boating, sailboarding and fishing.
ADA Access: N
Sites
53
Season
May 15th - October 5th
Price
$17.25 - $34.50
Operator
National Forest
Access
Drive In
Walk In
Hike In
Features
ADA Accessible
Alcohol Allowed
No Drinking Water
No Electric Hookups
Fires Allowed
Firewood Available
No Market
Pets Allowed
Picnic Table
Reservable
No Sanitary Dump
No Sewer Hookups
No Showers
Toilets
Trash Available
No Water Hookups
No WiFi
Contact
Location
Olive Ridge is located in Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests Pawnee NG in Colorado
Directions
The campground is located on the west side of Colorado Highway 7, between Allenspark and Meeker Park at mile-marker 14. It is approximately six miles north of the intersection of Colorado Highways 7 and 72 (which is 21 miles west-north-west of Lyons), 15 miles south of Estes park, and 29 miles north of Nederland.
6 Reviews of Olive Ridge
Great campground, shady and quiet!
Stayed at walk in site #21 mid week. Great campground and site, close to vault toilet and pretty good spacing from other sites. Close to road but no road noise to be heard. Campground is pretty large, mostly wooded and some sites have great rock features. This is bear country and we heard dogs barking at bears much of the night. Lock your stuff up! Campground hosts were really nice.
Beautiful Location- Okay Facilities
The forest around this campground is gorgeous. The sites are nice but can be hard to get a FCFS at busy times. The bathrooms were not so nice and there is no water. I really enjoyed how close it was to Estes Park but not in the town so it was very quiet.
Quiet, clean and picturesque - but no water on site
Very nice, well-maintained campground near Wild Basin section of Rocky Mountain National Park. No water on site but it is available a short distance away from Crystal Springs in Allenspark (https://sites.google.com/site/apwaterandsanitation/gui-information/crystal-springs)
A mixture of reserved and walk-up sites. Campground hosts were helpful trying to accommodate those who arrived without reservations but found campground full [a fair number of sites with reservations were not occupied during our stay].
Nice tent pads on all sites and bear boxes. Site sizes vary and larger RVs had difficulty with tight turns or limited space in some sites. Some noise from highway even on sites furthest from road, but not generally an issue.
Going downhill
I have loved this campground for several years now. What was once quiet, close to cool towns, and clean, now feels crowded, groups are loud at night, and cars can be heard on the nearby highway. The worst of it all though, is there are a few residential sites on either side of the campground. One blasts music all day each day and the other has two dogs that bark incessantly at night. I am not sure I’ll be staying here much more. It’s too bad.
Close to Longs Peak
Had a reservation for 2 nights but ended up only staying one due to the freezing cold and down pouring rain. Campground was nice, clean, well cared for. We did see some scrapes on a bunch of trees- moose? Bears? Not sure. Was a bit of a drive into Estes and RMNP with a ton of construction going on. When the construction is over that should be a nice short drive.
Nice campground with great some non-reservation sites; get there early!
We stayed here for a night when we wanted to explore Boulder, but this campground is close enough to the Estes Park entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park that you could use it as your base for exploring the east side of RMNP. You can get up there in about 20-25 minutes.
Tip: Don't pay attention to a 'Campground Full' sign early in the day, especially at campgrounds with non-reservation sites. People leave every day, even on a Saturday in July. Sites 1 through 25 and 38 (cool site) are non-reservation sites, and we managed to get site 7 at 9 am when we noticed people packing. They told us they'd be out in less than an hour; we paid the fee, put our tag on the post, and waited out front.
This campground has the usual 'amenities' of a Forest Service campground in Colorado (tent pad, food locker, fire ring, cooking grill, vault toilets) except water. Water spigots throughout the campground were wrapped up. We always carry plenty of water to Forest Service campgrounds just in case.
The non-reservation loop has more private sites than the reservation loop especially if you have a tent. You can hide pretty far back on sites 5, 19 and 20 (and possibly others). This campground also has shade provided by pineand aspen; the pine beetle infestation is not prevalent in this part of Colorado south of RMNP's east side.
The sites in the center of the reservation loop are like one big open neighborhood. The trees are nice, but you can see all your neighbors. If you want privacy, stick to the outside of the loop if you have a tent. You can pitch your tent fairly far away from the road at some sites. (I love tents/tent sites but I don't like to sleep on the ground anymore. We have a teardrop.)
But….the coolest site is #38, and it's not reservable. See the photo. It's not very private, but the big rock is something no other site has. #34 all by itself on the inner part of the loop also looks cool.
