## Overview

 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.
## 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. 
## Contact Info

 For facility specific information, please call (530) 529-0578. 
## 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.

Olive Ridge

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.

Nice campground with great some non-reservation sites; get there early!

I stayed here with some family 2 weeks ago. Even though it’s off the main road you feel tucked away with the tree coverage and large sites. We stayed near the entrance but it didn’t feel very busy. There are some sites in the back with big boulders that re pretty cool. Some sites were reserved, others FCFS. camp hosts were friendly and helpful. I’d stay here again! 

There are Pit toilets and no water. If you go down the road about a mile, there’s a frontage road that you can take to a drinkable spring water hut where you can fill up for free. They do have a post for donations. There is an art/community center on the left before you turn off to the business/frontage road. The ladies were very helpful with local spot recommendations. We bought a few things to help out. They also have free WiFi. 

Good location off the beaten path 

Great experience! Had tent pads and bear lockers! Cute area!

Great!

Acres large campsite that opens to a boulder studded meadow. A little tight backing through the trees but doable. The roadway runs by so there is some traffic noise. Otherwise nearly perfect. No water. Here mud June and there are open spots FF. No one stays all that long with no water at hand. 

Spacious and serene 

Camping alone is always nerve wracking, but having people nearby was a nice saftey feeling, but they weren't too close. I stayed in #6 and had trees blocking my neighbors. Bear locker and  campsite was clean except for cigarette butts that were not picked up by previous campers. Regardless was a great spot, near Meeker Lodge if you really needed a shower, they have public ones, and a small little market inside including ice.  Bathrooms were clean and stocked with toilet paper. Would def stay here again. No service on phones! 

Great spot

This camp is located a mile away from Allenspark. Most sites are well protected from the sun and there are a lot of trees. Access to the back end of Rocky Mountain National Park is 10 minutes walking distance through County Road 84.  There are very demanding trails   In this part of the Park. If you want to get less difficult trails, the one next to the old gallery in Allenspark is great (Fox Creek or Rock Creek loops).
There is free internet access by the old gallery.  No cell reception available at the camp. 

Great High Altitude Camp

Spots 1-46 First Come/first serve. No water, no hookups, but beautiful forest around and very spacious. We love it

Super nice place

We stayed two nights in a tent camp site. We happened to arrive just as the camp hosts were making their rounds and talked to them, got recommendations for which site to pick (they were 100% spot on with their recommendation) and local trails. 

The sites are all beautiful! Each site has a fire pit, picnic table, bear box, and tent pad. There's no water, so bring your own, but there are vault toilets.

--A NOTE ON FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVE SITES--
Because of its proximity to Wild Basin and Sandy Beach Lake, this is a popular campground. I recommend arriving for your first night during the week (we arrived on a Thursday and had our pick of sites). 

When you arrive, you will flip the sign at your site from "open" to "reserved" to show that it has been taken. Once you've paid your camp fee they will clip a little receipt to the sign. This may make it look to some reviewers like the first-come-first-serve spots were actually reserved but they were not. Those reviewers may have just gotten there late on a popular weekend and all the people who got there first were served first. That's how it works.