On Friday we traveled about 25 miles to Olive Ridge, a nice forest service campground about 15 miles south of Estes Park. We first had to drive over to Moraine Park campground, in the national park, to dump our tanks since there is no dump station in Aspenglen campground. Of course, there is none here either, but there is water and vault toilets for $17 a night. Half of the campground is not reserveable, so we got a good site on Friday morning before the crowds arrived later in the day. We have absolutely no cell or internet here, though.
This is a great location, and would be a good place to stay if you couldn’t get into Rocky Mountain NP. Within a 10 mile stretch of road to the north there are miles of trails actually in the national park, and it is a really pretty area.
We hiked a couple trails in the Wild Basin area, just a mile and a half up the road. The trail to Copeland Falls and then on to a pretty cascade was fairly level and less than 4 miles round trip. It was just what we needed after climbing Twin Sisters. We even saw some trout trying to get up the falls, but they weren’t very successful.
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Yesterday we hiked the Sandbeach Lake trail. We knew it was 4.5 miles to the lake, but we just hiked a couple miles and turned around. Too much climbing again. Guess we will never get used to this elevation. We did get some nice views from the trail
I love those trails. This is so much fun. Thanks for sharing. I might also mention that if you like pralines, The Caramel Crisp Shop has be best. And, have you visited Charlie Eagle Plum's yet? It's like a museum. I can't wait for my trip in September. I won't be able to post till I get home tho. Oooh well...
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