Montrose KOA, Montrose, Colorado

A quiet and convenient park in Montrose. The sites are mostly pull through with easy access to each site from the interior roads. The park has a playground, decent showers and bathrooms, pool, hot tub and dog walk area. The park gives great access to Montrose and is a short drive from Black Canyon National Park. The wifi worked decently and the staff was easy to work with during check in and our stay. There are quite a few trees, but we were lucky to get satellite service. We give this a 4 out of 5 based upon the reasonable price and good amenities.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Montrose, CO

Black Canyon may be one of the unknown National Parks, but it does not disappoint when it comes to the views and taking your breath away. I cannot count the number of times we walked up to the edge and had my stomach jump due to the sheer drop off from the top of the canyon to the bottom 2,000 feet below. The Gunnison river runs through the canyon and carves the rock at the rate of 1cm every 100 years. That is 4 inches per 1,000 years... The river drops 34 feet per mile making it one of the steepest rivers in the country. The end result after millions of years is a canyon steep and deep that will make your hands sweat as you stand at the rail of the overlooks. The pictures do not do it justice. See it in person to truly appreciate the magnitude of the canyon. The North rim is by far the better views if you have the time to drive to that side of the canyon. We would highly recommend putting this National Park on your list as it is truly amazing.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Jackson, WY

Rocky Mountain National Park offers everything to a person who loves the mountains of the West. It offers huge peaks, extreme elevations, tundra, wildlife, lakes, hikes, bears, oh my. We attempted to experience it all. The drive into Estes Park is the only downside, but after navigating the narrow canyon and using every slow vehicle pull out, we were in our RV park just a mile from the visitor center. Our first to do was to get our oil changed in the Jeep, so we spent the first day in Denver at the dealership and then doing the brewery tour at the Coors factory. After going through the Budweiser factory, we can recommend the Coors tour as better and more informative. With fresh oil in the Jeep, we decided to hike into Ouzel Falls. The hike was on the easier side of our normal hikes, but the scenery was great and the water fall was cool. I think I'm spoiled by the big water falls we've seen around the country. Since it is the middle of September, the elk are in the rut and we had big bulls and their groups of cows around what seemed every corner, even in town. We drove into the park to watch the elk at Moraine Park. The area is a big valley where the elk congregate and the bulls fight to keep their harems. We watched two massive bulls bugle and fight over a group of about 20 cows. We decided to spend a lazy day driving the Trail Ridge road to the Alpine visitor center. The road crests at 12,183 feet. At the elevations above ~11,000 feet, the landscape is tundra, which is one of my favorites. Our last day in the park was spent watching the elk for about an hour and then hiking to 2 of the higher elevation lakes, Loch Lake and Mills Lake. The lakes were fantastic and worth every mile. On our way out of Estes Park, we had a bit of a traffic jam as a herd of elk decided to camp out at an intersection and eat the grass. We enjoyed our time in Estes Park and we are already planning to return during the same time of year so we can watch the elk.

Spruce Lake RV Resort, Estes Park, Colorado

A great park right along the Big Thompson River in Estes Park. The sites in the park are dirt and organized with most being back in. There is a small grass area with a picnic table next to each site. There are not many trees in the park, so satellite service will work in most sites. The park had reasonable bathrooms and showers along with a fishing pond and playground area by the pond. The wifi worked fine and they had cable service that worked great. The only downside for us at the park is that they don't accept mail for their visitors. Given the size of their office staff, we were disappointed that we could not get our mail and packages while we stayed here. The mail issue put them at a 3 out of 5. We love the area, but will pick a different park next time we visit.

Grand Teton National Park

Rawlins KOA, Rawlins, Wyoming

We needed a stop in Rawlins for a single night to break up a long drive and picked the KOA. The park is right off the freeway, but we had very little noise from the traffic. The roads and sites are gravel and most of the sites are pull through. Our site was just long enough for us park and leave the car attached overnight. Each site has a small concrete pad with a table and privacy wall to help block some of the wind that is frequent in the area. We did not check out the restrooms or showers as we were only there a few hours. Staff during checkin was great. We will stay here again when in the area.

Grand Teton National Park

It took an overnight stop in the little town of Lima, MT to get to our next stop which was Grand Teton National Park but once we got there, it did not disappoint!  This mountain range is absolutely exquisite.  I still can't get over the beauty and grandeur of it.  Since Taylor was a ski racer all through high school we had spent many a weekend in the area but had never ventured beyond the ski resort.  I wish we would have at least taken the time to drive a half hour down the road to see the rest of the mountain range.  But, at least we got to see it now. 

Of course Gary wanted to get out and hike the beauties (we don't call him a mountain goat for nothing) so we started out on a big hike the first day.  I was a little cocky because I thought this hike simulated a hike we recently did in Ketchum that I had no problem with.  Well, it was a bit different because it was a constant 12% incline (which Gary didn't tell me about until later) and I was sucking wind.  :)  I was rewarded at the top though because we saw 2 lakes, a doe with her 2 babies, and a bear!  Yay!!!  The bear was a little disconcerting because he was on a tier of land above us and about 20 feet away.  They are so quiet! 

The next day Gary had mercy on me and we drove into Yellowstone.  Yellowstone National Park is only about an hour's drive away.  We have been to the park twice but it was still fun to go in for the day.  We drove to our favorite spots of the park so we considered it a bonus day.

Because Gary is my personal hiking trainer, we took off on another hike the next day.  This time the hike was a lot easier but way more scenic.  The bonus of this hike was that we got to see moose up close!  Gary and I have been to over 50 national parks and grew up in Idaho but we had yet to see a moose closer than 200 yards away.  There were 4 cows and a bull at the top but we only saw 2 cows up close.  I consider this a very successful hike.

To wrap up our stay in the area, we went back to Jackson Hole.  I love mountain towns, they are just so relaxing and bring back a lot of good memories for me from when Taylor was skiing.  We spent the day going from shop to shop (where I may or may not have picked up a pair of boots) and enjoying some appies and wine in an iconic restaurant.  Great day!

This park has now made it on our top 5 parks to visit and we will definitely be back!