Have you booked your camping reservations for this summer? Book now as reservations are getting snapped up quickly!
Reservations for campgrounds in national parks, national forests, and Colorado state parks are available at least six months ahead, which means that early bird campers have been able to book Memorial Day reservations since late November, and 4th of July reservations have been available since the beginning of last week.
According to a report, campground reservations in national forests and national parks can be made via Recreation.gov, however, booking for state parks can be made via Colorado Parks and Wildlife camping home page.
The camping reservation system at Rocky Mountain National Park is similar to last year. However, the availability of campsites is returning to normal. The campgrounds were restricted to 50% capacity last year due to COVID-19.
We will be at full capacity at Moraine Park Campground (244 sites) and Glacier Basin campground (150) this summer,” said Kyle Patterson, the park’s public affairs officer. “We had 50 percent open in those two campgrounds last year. Aspenglen campground, which has been closed the last two summers, is reopening (with) 52 sites.”
Timber Creek Campground on the west side of the park (98 sites), which was closed last year due to the East Troublesome fire and staff housing issues caused by COVID, will reopen this year. The dates are yet to be confirmed. In the previous years, it was first-come-first-served. But this year, sites can be booked.
In terms of wilderness camping, Rocky Mountain National Park officials haven’t yet finalized the details regarding this year’s permit sales. The permits usually go available in March. The last time they did it, they utilized an online lottery spread across several days to avoid server overload. The details regarding this year’s system are scheduled to be announced in late January.
The best resource to get a comprehensive overview of Colorado’s campgrounds in 11 national forest areas is the interactive visitor map maintained by the U.S. Forest Service. Zoom in from the national map to Colorado and then hone in on specific areas around the state. From there, you can click on various locations to find out which national forest they are located in. From there, you can click on specific campground information.
“All forests in Colorado that have reservable sites are required to use Recreation.gov for that purpose,” said Donna Nemeth, regional press officer for the forest service. “This does not mean that all sites can be reserved. Many campsites are still first-come, first-served sites, which are not under Recreation.gov.”
Camping in developed campgrounds isn’t the only option available within national forest areas. There are also two available alternatives.
Dispersed camping is another option. It means campers may pitch tents in areas that aren’t developed, meaning they don’t have picnic tables, drinking water, fire grates, or toilets. The forest service has an interactive Colorado map that allows you to click on specific national forests for a list of dispersed camping areas and rules for using them.
Overnight backpacking is also allowed. The forest service has an interactive map for backpacking locations in national forests, but that one takes you to lists of trails in each forest where you can hike and find places to rough it overnight in the wild.
Backpacking permits, which are required for camping in designated sites of the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, will be available soon.
“If you are planning to visit the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area between June 1 and September 15, permits are required for all overnight camping,” said Reid Armstrong, public affairs specialist for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests which are the two closest to Front Range cities.
“Permits will be available on Recreation.gov starting February 1. Visitors will be able to view permit availability and plan their itineraries online.”
While this doesn’t apply to camping activities, Armstrong stated that reservations would be required this year for trips to the Brainard Lake Recreation Area and the Mount Evans Highway. The reservations will be available on a date yet to be announced.