Best RV Parks & Resorts near Empire, CO

I have a 22’ travel trailer I pull behind an F150. Since this campground is inside Rocky Mountain National Park, the roads are all paved.

The campground sites are situated around one-way driving loops, which are quite narrow. Best to pay attention to which side of the loop your site is on so your trailer door doesn’t open up onto the road. I think they error on the side of caution when it comes to the size of trailer fitting into each spot. At least for mine. They said max 26’ (trailer + tow vehicle), but I’m closer to 32’ and I fit fine. That may not be true of all campsites though. There is parking very close by if your tow vehicle can’t squeeze into the site.

My site didn’t have a whole lot of trees, but they planted a bunch of small ones to try and fix this years from now. Sites were level and had lots of space. Each had a fire pit and picnic table.

There were no hookups and no cell service (Verizon). They did have trash drop offs, water for cleaning pans and dishes, and bathrooms. It was very quiet at night. Generators are allowed but only for a couple times a day during short windows.

Glacier Basin campground is just a few miles from the Bear Lake trailhead. It was very nice to stay inside the park. Vehicle passes to get into National Parks were still required when I stayed and the lines to get in were very long and slow.

We stayed at site F03 from June 8–14 (we left a day early) and were very disappointed in the condition of this campground.

We live full-time in our motorhome and have traveled extensively across the country. Sadly, this was one of the worst campsites we’ve stayed at. The grass was extremely overgrown, the bushes and trees were encroaching on the site, and the water spigot in our area was non-functional. The site itself was so steep that we had to pull in forward just to attempt leveling our Class A RV—completely unsuitable for big rigs.

Adding to that, this is not a full hookup site. You're paying over $50 per night (after the additional $10 vehicle charge) for electricity only, with the nearest dump station 7 miles away. That price is far too high for what’s offered, especially given the lack of maintenance.

To their credit, the park office was understanding and did refund two nights of our stay, which we appreciated. However, we left a day early and will not be returning.

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.

Gore Creek Campground is a true gem of the National Forest Service. If you are looking for a great boondocking location that is close to great trails and breathtaking views, this just might be the place for you. The entrance to the campground is ~2 miles off of I-70 Exit 180 on Bighorn Road. Only 10 minutes from Vail Village and 25 minutes from Frisco.

We stayed in Site #8, which provided plenty of room for our 22’ travel trailer and pickup. The sites each have a large picnic table and fire ring.

Pit toilets are spread through the campground and were very clean and well maintained. The campground hosts do a great job of keeping everything tidy and looking great. They also have bundles of firewood for sale for $7 at their site just inside the entrance to the campground.

I can’t say enough about this place. It’s probably my favorite spot to camp in Colorado. I almost didn’t post this review for fear of the secret getting out.