Moraine Park Campground — Rocky Mountain National Park

It’s a place I’ve camped so many times. Just beautiful and in the park so don’t deal with timed entry.

Just a note from Campendium - Closed for construction from May 23 to June 24 so check website.

Stayed one night in mid may in a drive up site. Chilly, clear starry night. Tall trees. Close to town but quiet. Easy self book. And pay. View of mountain and plains. Bear boxes worked. Pit toilets, fine. Wish people would not use their generators. I wish they would make generators only allowed in some areas of the camp. Would love to return.

My time here was brief as I arrived just before dark and packed up fairly early, but overall it seemed like a pretty decent campground. I woke up to a lovely view and light snowfall. It was quite a peaceful place to stay. 

The campground: I stayed in the off-season, so only B-loop was open. While the loop wasn't full, there were plenty of other campers. My campsite looked out towards the valley and evergreen covered mountains. My site had a slightly elevated tent pad, a picnic table, and a fire pit with a grate. The campground was very clean, including the vault toilets, which were still open.

The area: This campground is only about ten minutes away from the Beaver Meadows Visitor's Center at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a great location for exploring the eastern side of RMNP. After I packed up in the morning, I took the road up to Bear Lake where the snow was a lot heavier. If you want to leave the Park for awhile, Estes Park is only about a twenty minute drive and has plenty of restaurants and shops. 

Booking: It was the off-season, so first come, first served. I stopped at the entrance to the campground put my payment in an envelope and into the drop box.

Cell Service: Verizon was spotty.

It's a bit over crowded. Lots of beetle damage.

Lucky to get same day reservations at this campground. If you have in park reservations you do not need timed entry reservations and can enter park anytime and just pay fee. This park also allows you access to Bear Lake Corridor with your campsite reservations, which is a must do. Fantastic hiking all along Bear Lake area. Make sure you are up at Bear lake before 0800….parking fills up fast but there is a park and ride shuttle as well, which may be a great option to ride up and hike down. Sprague lake had cutthroat trout visible in streams and a few fisherman were there.
Campground was pretty full, of course we were there with change of leaves and elk rutting. The meadow next to campground had herd of elk and many bulls. We heard elk our entire visit and saw some pretty close to road. Also saw mule deer, turkey and moose in park. Facilities at campground were clean with soap. There was outside sink for dishes if needed and shower stall if you have a solar bag. Campsite was comfortable…we saw many tent sites that were semi private with off loop pads.

Gets the job done. Easy access to trails. Sites are a little close together. But you won’t find any other campgrounds more spread out around RMNP.

Both morning I woke up to deer eating right outside my tent. You rise to mountains surrounding on all sides. Pure beauty! Further, the bathrooms are spotless. Keep in mind that you have to buy wood and it’s not sold every day.

Further, the staff were very kind.

Ask for hiking, you can set off from the campground, and buses leave from there towards some other hiking points.

Great campground. Unfortunately our visit was short lived due to a hole in the tent and it raining. The lady selling firewood prefers small bills which was fine since the bundle was only $6. Fire pits were nice and the tent pad was aim good condition.

We stayed in early summer in D141. It was still a bit chilly, and the wind at the campground made it chillier (and also blew things around a lot). I'm not sure if that was a single weather thing or if it's always windy there, though. The site is a walk-in site which my oldest thought was annoying, but I thought it was nice. Our tent wasn't right on top of other tents and our site was huge because of this.

We saw tons of wildlife right in our site, and the nearby trails are some of the best if you want to see moose (we did!). At dawn and dusk, you can hear the elk that hang out in the moraine singing. 

The bathrooms by our site were a comfort center, so flush toilets, running (cold) water, soap (usually), and even hand dryers (cold air). They were pretty clean and I'm SO glad that these were the bathrooms I had later in the visit when I got sick from the high elevation visitor center and spent the entire afternoon going back and forth to the bathroom. We didn't check out the solar shower stalls. We do bucket washing and they were a ways away from our tent so we just waited until our next stop where we could have a shelter tent to wash up. 

People at this campground were very quiet and respectful. One day we woke up to a dead car battery and a neighbor kindly came over to jump us. As the elevation of this site is above 8,000 ft, our solar panel charged our solar generator super fast in the afternoon. More info in the picture captions.

I have great service in SOME sites, but not others. Most of the people have been fairly kind and friendly, but i did have a woman shout at me today when I was in my lane and she was stopped in the middle of an intersection... So kindof hit or miss! Facilities on site are great so far though, even neat little bundles of wood for you at your firepit!

We stayed 4 nights at A001. The tent pad is not even but the view made up for it. This is a walk up site. The walk to your car is less than 30 seconds. The sites next to our are both an uphill walk from your car.

There is nothing to break the wind and our tent took a beating. It’s very windy at different points in the day so keep that in mind.

The flushing toilets are clean and the solar shower stalls were super nice. The closest vault toilet is the smelliest vault toilet I’ve ever experienced. My wife and I both gagged.

Plenty of wildlife roam through the campsite. It’s also close to where they sell ice and wood.

Many of the roads and bathrooms were closed for Covid I'm assuming, so it was difficult to find a place to use the restroom. There are also no showers. Rating 5 stars for cleanliness, I had a nice experience here for $20/night

stayed here in May during the “off-season” so everything was first come, first serve. Two loops were open, the bigger loop had amazing spots with views of the mountain range. Vault Bathrooms were clean, some spots share bear boxes. Definitely coming back!

Lots of sites! Elk are frequently spotted in the field coming into the campground. Beware; bears are common in the area and have gotten skilled at entering unlocked vehicles. You will be fined if a bear gets into your car. Leave your food in the provided bear box or your locked car when not needed. Bathrooms are basic and nice. There are stations for your own portable camping showers near bathrooms.

This was our first time staying in RMNP and I can’t get over how awesome this campground was. It was fully booked while we were there and never felt too crowded. Bathrooms were really nice. We also saw lots of deer around us which was cool to watch.

We lucked out and scored a last-minute two night reservation at this campsite.  It was our first time at RMNP and the park, and the campground, was stunning.  People were very respectful of quiet hours, the bathrooms were clean, and the scenery was jaw-dropping.  It's rut season for the Elk so we could hear them calling during the night, and one of them walked right through the campsite right next to us.  We will definitely come back - hopefully for much more than two nights next time!

Absolutely amazing. Breathtaking views, spacious campsites, we could even have our dog stay with us. We stayed for four days in our tent. Lots of wildlife around, deer commonly walk through the campsite and we saw bighorn sheep and elk nearby. Restrooms are clean and water and trash readily available. They even sell firewood nearby.

I absolutely loved it here! Very quiet and lots of wildlife to watch. B213 has direct line of sight to Moraine Park so if you want to watch the rut, that's the site to reserve!

The park is in Rocky Mountain National Park and it is great.  There is tons of wildlife - Elk, Mule Deer, chipmunks, wild birds of all kinds.  

We stayed in a tent site but there are RV sites as well.

We parked the sprinter here for about 10 days while Bouldering in the alpine Great campgrounds and setting

Beautiful setting on the mountains. No hookups but that is to be expected in a National park. Deer roam throughout the campground. Animals can be spotted nearby in the valley.

Our tent campsite was clean & private. It was large enough to easily accommodate 3 tents. Every day we saw elk and deer close to our tents. The campground is centrally located to numerous hiking trails. The days we were there the temp dropped to the low 20’s and 14 inches of snow in 24 hours! All this at the end of May.

Loved this campground. Was there in September and the Elk were in their rutting season. Campsite was plenty big enough with a nice tent pad. Very enjoyable spot, close access to trails and entrance and exit of the park.

Have stayed here many times in all seasons except deep winter. Gorgeous special place. Super busy in the summer, reserve ahead! September is magical - hear the elk bugling from your tent! Use the bear boxes, they know how to break into cars here.

Vault toilets. 64 spots were open before the summer season begins. You’re not right on top of each other but pretty close. They have potable water fillups however they didn’t work. 20$ a night.

Rocky Mountain National Park is just spectacular. Elk, moose, bighorn sheep, eagles, fox, coyotes, black bears, and other wildlife abound. I was a Ranger one summer in Rocky - please respect the wildlife and keep a very long distance to not affect their behavior. Drive slow - there are accidents resulting in death of wildlife every year. That being said, about this campsite in particular - it is my favorite in the Park. I stayed there twice when not yet a Ranger...gorgeous views - meadow, mountains, etc. Lots of people in summer and just be prepared for that. The hikes and views and wildlife you will experience make this so worthwhile. The sites are good, of course they are not huge. If you backpack I would probably recommend getting a back-country license. But car camping is excellent here!! Dogs are allowed camping - we stayed when we weren't going on hikes. National Parks do not allow dogs on trails - they are only allowed in parking lots & campgrounds to protect the wildlife and dogs. Of course, there is a massive amount of National Forest surrounding the area that you could take dogs on trails. Our dogs loved this site.

We super love this place. It’s a bit of a family campground as it’s a national park. It’s tucked down in a moraine under Longs Peak. We’ve seen turkeys and dear but no bears yet.

Took a last minute road trip to RMNP with no lodging pre-planned Oct 17. Found first come first serve sites at the remaining open campground in the park. There were a few sites available mid day in the two open loops of the campground. I decided on site 1, with views on all sides! There was a wind advisory and fire ban (understandably). Bear lockers provided, found it ample, clean, and latched well. There's a small walk from car to site, but not at all sites. I found most sites to be nicely spaced out. Only downside of site 1 was a bright light at the office/Ranger area. Lots of great hiking a short drive away and wonderful wildlife viewing within walking distance. Pit toilets available mid October but not shower or running water toilets. Found one faucet near entrance of campground to fill my water jugs.

This is a good campground; clean, easy access, but the sites are pretty close together. It's essentially split into 3 sections (Arapaho Bay Big Rock, Morraine, and Roaring Fork). They're all essentially the same campground but they are run by different hosts. Roaring Fork and Morraine are right on the lake but have NO shade. Arapaho Bay- Big Rock is fully shaded and still only minute drive (probably a 20 minute walk) to the water. Morraine and Roaring Fork are the best if all you're wanting to do is be on the lake or if you're bringing a boat. Morraine is really nice if you don't have a boat but want lots of lake time as there's a big sandbar strip that acts as a beach that's within a minute's walking distance of any campsite in that portion of the campgorund.

Please be aware that CO weather(especially in the mountains) is very prone to quick changes. Come prepared with lots of layers, weather-proof clothing, and tents that can withstand a storm.