Elk Meadows Lodge & RV Resort

I have been a camper at Spruce Lake (1990’s) and Elk Meadow Campground (since 2000). So over 25 years with this company. This year I had to leave 3 days early due to a medical issue that my medical team recommend I return home ASAP. So I left 3 days early. After being a camper with them for over 25 years, sometimes more than once a season, they WOULD NOT provide a credit for the next season due to needing to leave. Even though they have done away with the General Store, a bathroom is usually out of service, no ice cream bars, scant RV supplies, cable TV, and now no WiFi….continuing to cut services for campers yet increase costs…..I will NOT be returning to this campground or sister campgrounds. Though they have wonderful views, I will choose to camp at other campgrounds in the area. This is pure greed on the owners and mangers part and no concerns about returning, loyal customers. One other note about this year’s stay, we were under a Red Flag Warning and a burn ban. Durning this high fire risk weather, there was a very large fire with sparks in the pit by the playground and a camper had one at their site. I witnessed and reported to the assistant manger who was walking her dogs long before there ban and warnings were lifted. The next day I asked her if she was able to get the fires extinguished. She said no because the fires were started after the bans and warnings were lifted. And that was an outright lie as I reported before the bans and warnings ran out and the fires were going full force when I reported. So this also tells me that the assistant manager and the campground really doesn’t wish to enforce laws to preserve the area from another catastrophic wild fire in the National Park and the surrounding mountain towns and citizens. As a past resident of Colorado this really should upset local people and visitors.

We stayed for a couple of nights because everything else was booked up, the site was fine, staff were friendly and helpful, didn't use the pool/facilities as we had our travel trailer, but really the only reason not 5 star is just needs more tree's/foliage and effort into the sites themselves, it's just a bit barren around the sites.

Well, what is there to say about Elk Meadow Lodge and RV. We booked a tent site for Fri-Sun. We are a fully contained truck with a roof top tent but we're not allowed an RV site (despite the fact we would have loved electricity and water, and were willing to pay for that luxury). We pulled in after hours to a $h1t show. Our site was unlevel (in the extreme, I pity the people in ground tents that don't have leveling blocks), had no picnic table, and had our neighbors fire pit 6 feet from the side of our truck. Since it was after hours I had to call the 'emergency number' so that my boyfriend and I would have the $50 a night luxury of cooking our dinner on a table. I also expressed concerns about the fire pit damaging our truck or roof top tent, to which I was told "well what do you want us to do, since we can't move the fire pit". Obviously not Jill, but I would like to bring it to your attention. She also offered to have us move sites, but since all the fire rings are in the parking space, I'm not quite sure what that would accomplish (excellent planning on their part!!). When Jill, and I'm assuming her husband arrived with the picnic table (all praise Jill for providing what we paid for!) They were nothing but mean, snarky and downright rude. The excuse for lack of a table was "were closing sites for winter). I'm writing this after only being at the offending RV park for 1.5 hours, but I can't wait to leave. You should save yourself the trouble by never entering in the first place. At least the views were pretty, if you like highway noise.

Update #1: Boyfriend almost got bitten by a black widow in the bathroom while turning on the light, someome flew a drone, very low, over our tent at 8 in the morning, children were screaming like coyotes all night (seriously), and it's been a rare moment that dogs have not been barking, yapping or howling (no not the kids this time). And I just got to hear the staff gossiping about us requesting a table. Can't wait to see what tonight brings!

P.S. I am so excited to see what their reply is to this review.

Rocky Mountains in all directions. Beautiful. We arrive around 6:30 and had our packer waiting in the late arrival box out front. Super cute campground with a very delicious restaurant out front that we’d highly recommend. The kids swam in the pool for a bit and explored. The camp ground is set on a hill with terraced sites. We have an uphill site so a little tricky to empty the tanks uphill. Nice clean facilities.

This is the most expensive RV park we've stayed at, and to be honest, the only thing justifying that is location. Right behind our row of RVs(Row A, on the edge of the park) was the road into Rocky Mountain National Park. We were a 5 minute drive from our lot to the Beaver Meadows gate into the park. So that was GREAT! And Estes Park is pretty small, so we were near to everything(including the outstanding Rock Cut Brewery!).

Electric worked great. Water pressure was solid(our gauge had us at about 44). And despite the entire park being on a bit of a gentle hillside, our gravel lot was level enough that we didn't need to use any leveling blocks, which is always a win in my book! Folks were friendly there. There are a couple of decent looking playgrounds(no kids with us) and there's even a mini-golf course, which we never got to try.

The park is still mostly just dirt and gravel. It's a bit dusty, therefore. And the sites are really close together. If we had put out our awning, it might have touched the rig parked next to us! So we weren't thrilled with that. For the money, we sure got a tiny amount of space.

So, in summary: great location and utilities that work with little effort. But tight space and not overall a very attractive park (although honesty, the views of the mountains around the park are pretty sweet). We'd stay here again due to the location...but the price is tough to take.

Not a very good campground. Located on a slope. RR are very old and dirty. Staff and Manager or very unfriendly.

Good Sam discount CO RV Parks are all more on the expensive side, but Elk Meadow is on the lower end of those around them. Great access to the RMNP(5 mins max!), as well as to downtown. Beautiful views of Longs Peak! Nearest grocery is close(5 miles away). Elk occasionally pass thru the front area which was really cool! There is also a little area next to the RV park where I think they park stored vehicles and it's a great place to walk. It's dirt, but about the size of a track. 

GUEST SERVICES= great customer service! Friendly staff anytime I went into the office; they shuffled around to accommodate out extended stay on the spot so we wouldn't have to relocate and could stay at our site the whole time we were in town. We appreciated that! 

WIFI/ CELL SERVICE= provided, but not reliable. We used our AT&T hotspot the entire time bc we work remote. Cell service was 4 bars and worked fine in the entire campground. 

LAUNDRY: Not the cleanest laundry room we've been too, but it worked. There was a soap and water station in the laundry I used to wipe down the inside of the washer(by the chlorox holder) before using. The trashcan always seemed to be overflowing with lent and trash, but again, clean enough. 

SITE: Wide roads and turns; easy to navigate throughout the campground; quiet; picnic table; spacious, no shade, needed levels on one side of our RV; dirt roads throughout so, unless it rained, it was very dusty and so we didn't open our windows as much as we wanted with the fresh mountain air. When it rained and calmed down the dust, then it was perfect to open the windows.

This campground has a great view and is conveniently located to town. Tent camp sites are not fantastic or maintained very well.

Great view. Pretty expensive for a BARE minimum tent site. But facilities are well kept and convenient.

We had a great stay at a tent site here. Our site was number 8, had a tree, and was by the bathrooms. The bathrooms were clean, and had a nice shower as well. Everyone was friendly, the staff and the other people staying there. Lots of RVs, but only three of the regular tent sites were taken and we had the most amazing view!

This is real close to RMNP and yet around the corner from Estes park. It is a bit dusty like a lot of Co. But RR's are well maintained and clean. Try even do trash pick up. The lodge had a band on weekend and there is a big dog run and activities.

Ton of people with big campers and big groups

We got into Estes Park on a Friday night with plans to stay elsewhere but those fell through. Luckily, Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Park had spots open for us! The park itself is lovely, well maintained and a spectacular view of Long's Peak. Facilities were very nice and clean. Hot tub and pool were wonderful for days after hikes. They had live music and drinks on the weekends, plus free pancakes in the morning on Sunday! The price was a bit steep but we loved it so much we sucked it up and stayed longer than expected (plus it's Estes Park, what do you expect?). The staff there was probably some of the nicest staff I've seen at an RV park - very kind and helpful. One of our favorite places to stay (since there aren't many options for dispersed camping in the area).