Along with Longs Peak, Timber Creek are the only two first come/first served campgrounds in RMNP. Which means that there was a pretty steady flow of traffic late morning to early evening through the campground. Based on other reviews, I was excited to camp here for the first time, but was a little disappointed after a week.

There are four loops in the campground (A,B, C, D), we stayed in Loop D (sites 76-100). Loop D had two water faucets and trash/recycling available, but no restrooms (have to go to Loop C which isn't too far). The restrooms have sinks and flush toilets. Firewood could be purchased from the shed at the campground entrance. Here's a map of the campground. The sites in Loop D are very close together, as if they just wanted to add 25 more sites in a limited area. On the plus side, it appeared that each campsite now has its own bear bin for storage.

The proximity of sites to one another wouldn't have been so bad, but the pine beetle infestation has left the campground with virtually no mature trees, so noise carries easily and there's no privacy. Also, the way some sites were situated in our loop meant that often times people walked through your site to get to their site avoiding the multitude of tree stumps all around.

Basically, no trees meant no shade, wind breaks, hammock, or privacy and a fair amount of noise especially since the campground is down the ridge from Hwy 34.

However, the lack of trees did provide some really nice views as well as good stargazing opportunities at night.

There were usually some elk in/around the campground and our second morning we awoke to over three dozen cow/calves moving through our loop and up the ridge towards the highway, but we saw at least one every day near our site. The Colorado River flows just west of the campground and some times moose can be seen in the area.

I'll be anxious to camp here in a few years once the seedlings have grown some, but our next trip to RMNP I'll be planning ahead to make reservations for Moraine Park or Aspenglen.