Best Equestrian Camping near Estes Park, CO

You must first stop at the base to check in this is where very friedly people checked us in explained the bear behavior and bear safty. The site have bear boxes. We then paid the 9 dollar a day use fee . When we reserved we had already paid 43 dollars a day for dry camp. This is my only reason for 4 stars instead of 5. There is a short drive over a tall hill to a valkey with 3 camp grounds. Hermits hollow, Bob cat and kruger equestrian . Hermits hollow is better for small rigs and tents. Some sites are not level but all are nice. Bob cat is better for your midsize rigs and seems a bit more managable. Kruger equestrian is for hourse trailers. There is a great hike up to the top of kruger rock thats not to hard. Your not far from Estes Park a tourist town that has shops food and fishing.

Estes park is definitely worth the visit, it's absolutely beautiful. and who doesnt love camping somewhere beautiful?

Stayed a Saturday night at the Estes Park East Portal campground. We brought out 22ft RV and it fit the site perfectly. Anything larger will be difficult to navigate. The park is very conveniently located near Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. They have nice sites although some are small and very close to one another. They have clean bathrooms with showers and even have a playground. We had no cell service nor is there any wifi. We took the east portal trail which is a beautiful hike and goes near the reservoir. Nice place to camp!

We stayed at Estes Park Campground at East Portal when we visited Rocky Mountain National Park this past July 2018. At first I was disappointed that we could not Moraine Valley or Aspen Grove campgrounds within RMNP, but I am SO GLAD we ended up staying at Estes Park Campground at East Portal! While it is a private campground and is more expensive than a State Park, National Park, Forest Service or BLM campground ($35 for a standard tent site without hookups…it increases with equipment hookups), I think it was well worth the extra money.

Estes Park Campground at East Portal is a short drive away from both RMNP and the city of Estes Park, so you are nearby everything. The camp hosts were extremely friendly, and shockingly, while there was a fire ban in place inside RMNP and outside the park near the Grand Lake area, campfires WERE allowed at Estes Park Campground at East Portal, so long as they were small and contained within the fire ring (which did have a grate for cooking!). The hosts at Estes Park Campground at East Portal had firewood for sale, and even dropped it off for us at our campsite! They also had ice for sale.

The sites are not extremely private, but are all surrounded by tall, thin trees. The trees are perfect for hammocks, so if you have a hammock, bring one! Also, the trees would be useful for handing extra tarps if a thunderstorm was to pass through the area; we had tarps and bungee cords and ropes at the ready in case a storm came. We were lucky, a HUGE storm had rolled through the night before we arrived, and another started just as we had finished packing up the car to leave Estes Park.

Each campsite has a newly build, raised tent pad to set your tent up on - the management is extremely strict that campers MUST place their tents only on the designated tent pad. I did not have a problem with that, as the tent pad is nice and flat, and has some compacted sandy soil which helps keep the dirt out of your tent. The sites are separated by thin logs placed on the ground.

WARNING: You ARE in bear country, so be bear safe and use the shared bear bins available in the campground! Our party had two adjacent campsites, so we were able to share the shared bear bin amongst just our own party. The neighbor on the other side of us had a bear bin, and it didn’t appear that he had to share his with if his neighbors. Try to lock all of your food and toiletries inside the food locker - they are large, and we have always been able to fit our big cooler into locker. If you do have to leave a cooler in the car, I was once told by a ranger in Yosemite NP that bears can recognize coolers when peering into car windows - he suggested putting put a towel and gear over your coolers when keeping them in the car overnight in bear territory.

The best part about this campground is that it had hot FREE and clean showers!!!! As a California girl who’s used to the extreme drought conditions, having a hot free shower available was absolute heaven while camping. There was also a big farm sink outside the bathrooms for dish washing and water bladder filling - it was extremely convenient.

There is only one trash receptacle area in the campground, up towards the entrance near the playground. Even though the campground is fairly small, we were lazy and kept our trash in the cars at night, and dropped it off in the morning when we were headed out to RMNP. There is also a water spigot near the garbage bins - it was a good reminder that we hadn’t filled up our water bladders for a day of hiking.

Estes Park Campground at East Portal is located at the very end of a road, so it is nice and quiet, without noise pollution from traffic. The campground is only about 20 minutes away from Moraine Park inside RMNP. It was easy to get to and from the NP, where we went each day to hike and search for moose.

We found moose at Sprague Lake, around dusk! A momma moose and her yearling twins came down from the wooded hills to graze on the water plants growing in the shallow lake. They were pretty unconcerned by the crowd of people watching them, but it’s important to still give them their space, as they are very large, wild animals (ESPECIALLY during mating season, and when a momma is with her young babies). The moose were truly an amazing site to see, nobody in my party from California had ever seen a moose before this trip to Colorado.

The camp hosts said moose and elk will occasionally make an appearance at the Estes Park Campground at East Portal. We did not see either while at camp, but we frequently deer and fawns running through the woods directly behind the campground.

WARNING: in the woods behind the campground there is a NO TRESPASSING zone where there are piles of chopped, dead trees - those tree piles contain the remains of the trees that were infected by the pine beetle epidemic that has killed so many trees in the area. The piles will be burned in the winter and should not be touched or disturbed.

CAMPSITE SPECS

Fees: $35/night

Plumbed Toilets: Yes

Drinking Water: Yes

Showers: Yes (no coins needed!!)

Picnic Table: Yes

Firepit: Yes

Cooking Grates: Yes

Shade: Yes

Cell Service: Yes

Animal Bins/Food Lockers: Yes (shared)

Trash: Yes

They come right up to your tent so be prepared and make sure you use the food lockers to keep bears away. great location, great sites, good facilities. Easy to get into Estes Park and into RMNP. Site A22 was great!

Three amigos traveled to Estes Park for a week and stayed at the East Portal Campground which as a great budget option with great amenities! Had stayed here previously and found it to be suitable for the needs of basic camping!

We loved this campground and it’s proximity to RMNP and Estes Park. The campground was clean, had a great playground and quiet hours were respected. The little store was nice and the camp hosts were friendly and helpful. We saw elk and mule deer in the campground on multiple occasions. Would definitely stay again!

Not far outside of Estes Park, but far enough up the side of a mountain to enjoy the wilderness. Sites spaced nicely apart, very well maintained, great fire pits with an attached grill grate. Moose and black bear apparently frequent but haven't caused any problems. This is our 3rd stay here, and one of our favorites.

A lovely campground to stay at. Alot of sites. Clean bathrooms. Beautiful scenery. Nice set of cabins to stay at as well. Nice bear boxes for your food and coolers. Plenty of wild life head into Estes Park to see the Stanley Hotel and the herd of elk move through. Spend a day in Rocky Mountain Park it's just down the road. We really enjoyed our stay!

This is one of my all-time favorite places to hike and camp in Colorado. I have not yet stayed in any of the campgrounds but have backpacked to the top of the American Lakes Trail. Not only is this hike fantasticly beautiful and full of wildlife (tons of moose especially) but there is great dispersed camping along the trails. You simply cannot find more scenic and free camping in Colorado. I would highly recommended camping anywhere in State Forest State Park!

Also, there are quite a few huts, cabins and yurts that can be rented year round in SFSP!

Just south of Estes Park, this small organized campground was perfect for our first trip of the season. The bathrooms were clean, and close to almost every site. They had a very nice playground for the kids with a climbing wall. The camp store was tiny, but had a few things we needed and super friendly. And the best was that the campground was just steps away from a trailhead into the National Forest. We hiked about 4.5 miles roundtrip to Sprague Lake.

The campground was decent. Some of the spots were quite "cozy". We lucked out with a nice roomy spot with a few trees. The best spots are A42 and 1-3. The bathrooms were well kept with nice showers. The camp hosts were very friendly. The best part of this campground is that you can hike into Rocky Mountain Park from the campground and there is a nice reservoir within easy walking distance. Close to Estes Park, but far enough away to actually feel like you are camping!

While more expensive than Forest Service or BLM campgrounds, we recently had a great experience at East Portal over the busy 4th of July weekend. Despite being walk ups, the camp hosts were extremely helpful in finding us a site, and then moving us around to an even better site. Highly recommend the sites on the south side, they are much more secluded if you are tenting. Clean restrooms and facilities. Close to great fishing and hiking (close as in, you can walk to them), and an easy drive into Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park.

My friend and I have camped here twice, and we love the location. The sites aren't sitting on top of each other, and some spots feel relatively secluded. It is within a few miles of Estes Park, so we k=hike during the day and dash into town for a drink with our dogs in the afternoon. It is also within an hour of Boulder, and two hours of Denver, so it doesn't leave us driving all day to get there and back.

The Kruger Rock Trailhead is inside the campground, and it is a nice hike with an amazing view of the Rockies and Estes at the top. Bring your crayons - there are two trailmarkers on the trail that you can do rubbings of.

When we first got to Estes Park every campground was full, so we looked into others in the area and found east portal. We thought it was going to be pretty mediocre compared to the others, however when we saw the campsites we were wanting to stay at, our campsite at east portal was way better. We had shade, amazing bathroom/showers, and everything was right by us! The only slightly annoying thing was that we were so close to other campers, which sometimes was disruptive. Otherwise this place was awesome! The nice bathrooms were well worth the price, friendly park staff, and drinking water! Also they had two really cool hiking spots right next to the campground that led to the lake over the mountain! Great experience!

Lots of good things to say about this place: Friendly, helpful staff and hosts, clean bathrooms in good shape, variety of sites to suit your needs (not a good place for large fifth wheels, it would be hard to maneuver into the sites), close proximity to Estes Park and RMNP. We travel in a van and had e/w hookup and there is a dump station to make a deposit on the way out. Only negative,  it not really a problem, is the narrow dirt road that was very rutted in places, so be careful. The sites are all different in terms of size and environment. We were in site A31, which was very spacious, gravel pad, but had a bit of a slope so we had to employ our leveling blocks to jack up one end. We would definitely stay here again if in the area. Just beware that there is no WiFi and cell reception is little to nothing.

**Campground Review: **

We really enjoyed our stay at Estes Park at East Portal! I can’t say enough good things. We passed so many parking lot campgrounds and were so happy we chose here. We had trees! Our space was large enough to accommodate our 20 ft travel trailer with our truck next to it, still leaving plenty of room for the picnic table and a chair circle around the fire. We chose to park next to the camper so as to not obstruct the view. Water and electric and a large bear box were provided. Our spot A66 overlooked a little field that every morning a little fawn would come up out of and sniff around. My kids enjoyed playing with sticks and rocks in this little field-something every kid should get to do! We had beautiful views in 3 directions(bathroom behind us). Speaking of bathrooms, they were large and clean! Auto flushing toilets, toilet paper and hand soap! A cleaning crew came in often and quickly. Individual shower rooms make for a comfortable and private hot shower very welcomed at the end of a day of nearby hiking. Mule deer came through every evening right by our camper to eat grass. One morning 3 large Bull Elk and a young bull came through the valley and up through the campground. It was so surreal! The stars were stunning too. We saw shooting stars and even the northern lights (flashing kind not curtains). Then on our last day, a rainbow could be seen right next to the campground. We could not have asked for anything more! The camp hosts were all awesome and very helpful. The location was central to most things that we wanted to do. No cell service and it was glorious! But if we did need it, about a mile down the road we picked it back up. There is a geocache very near to the campground right by a hiking trail-my boys enjoyed marking it off their list . I could watch them walk to it from the site. On our first hike we saw horse back riders from the YMCA and stunning views including a small waterfall. Wildflowers were scattered across the mountainside and there is a small reservoir for fishing-though we didn’t. The air was so clean and you could smell the pines. The site next to us was a walk-in I believe as it cycled through a few times in a week. The playground was small but my kids were satisfied. There was a rock climbing wall and swings. My husband said the dump site was not positioned perfectly for our camper but we were so happy they had one. The office has a small little store with maps brochures and some essentials or souvenirs. If we go back to Estes Park, this is definitely where we will camp again.

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Product Review: 

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time and this time we chose to review  Fiber Light.

https://fiberlightfs.com/collections/fire-starters-tinder/products/original-fiber-light-fire-starter

My husband has been showing our 12 year old some camping how to’s and this was a fun thing for them to mess around with. They used a spark wheel to get it going (survival mode they said lol) and it lit quickly and burned for a long time! We timed a large pinch and it burned for over 5 minutes. Lights immediately with a flame lighter. Comes in a large fully packed round tin with a thick rubber band around it to seal out moisture. My son was the first to try and was not able to get lit with his Firebiner (first time using that too), but my husband got it lit right away lighting the kindling and a log. I was impressed with how much time we had to get the rest of the fire set up! This will definitely be useful in a survival or long hike situation. Thumbs up from us!

This is a bare bones remote campground with assigned sites and vault toilets. There is no potable water on site, so bring plenty of water for your stay. The 18 sites are on a first come basis and can't be reserved.

I don't own horses, but have seen some in the area so it is equestrian friendly. The campground is located in a canyon with high cliffs and there are several hiking and backpacking trails that branch off from the campground. The south fork of the white river runs through the campground affording good fly fishing.

While you can get to the campground in a standard automobile the gravel road is rutted in places as you get close to the campground and can become dicey in heavy rain or snow for the last mile or two. 

I have been there numerous times as early as July and as late as September when snow can be expected.

A lovely wooded campground literally on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park - we even saw moose from the back window of our RV!  Options for everyone from cabins, to FHU RV sites (limited and not the ideal locations, but still nice), water/electric sites and tenting areas.  Even Conestoga wagons!  There is horseback riding on site and we loved watching the horses run in and out each morning/evening and you just have to cross the road for a pretty hike along the Colorado River in RMNP (no dogs on the trails).  We camped with our Great Dane - very dog friendly with bag stations around the park.  Friendly and helpful staff, a small shop with supplies and souvenirs, a cute little petting zoo with goats, sheep, and pigs.