Granby, CO - Rocky Mountain National Park

 August 11 - 17, 2026

On Tuesday, August 11 we left Central City and headed for Granby, CO.  John had taken the back panels off the sides of the 5th wheel behind the slides.  We tried to find someone to weld the aluminum but weren't able to.  I asked our friends, Vickie who lives east of Denver, if she or Mark knew of any welders in Denver.  She said they didn't but asked where we were and where we were going.  She texted a couple of possibilities, which we called, but didn't hear anything back.  We were in Fraser at the Safeway getting a few supplies and Brad's wife at BW Welding in Tabernash, less than 10 miles up the road, called and said to come and he would take a look at it.  He was able to fix the aluminum welds, as well as some steel welding on the rack on the back, in less than four hours, and the charge was very reasonable.  This was all God:  Vickie texting me about BW Welding, being only 10 miles away when they called, that he was able to fix it, and that we got to the RV park before 6:00.  God is good!  The panels are still off and will be until we can get someone to put them back on (you can't see it in the picture above).

We are at Sun Outdoors Rocky Mountains in Granby, CO.  We needed a rest and wanted to go to the Rocky Mountains so we are staying a week.  It's 50 amp full hookups with a cement patio, and is a really nice RV park.  We got the weekly rate which is $77.39 per night.  I've been burned at a couple of other Sun Outdoors properties but this one is much better.

We were watching the weather and Wednesday, August 12 it looked like it would be good, so we went into Rocky Mountain National Park.  We didn't have a timed entry but if you go in before 9am or after 2pm you don't need one.  We got to the entrance station about 8:30 and didn't have to wait in line.

For some reason RMNP has their visitor centers outside the entrance stations, so if you don't have a timed entry and you go out to the visitor center you have to wait until 2pm to get back in (even if you do have a timed entry it's only good for the two hours you got it for, so you still have to wait until after 2pm to get back in).  We stayed inside the park, although it would have been nice to see Estes Park.  

We've crossed over the Continental Divide several times, but this was one of the only places there was a sign.

Here are several pictures.

Panorama.

They're hard to see but there are some elk enjoying the sun.

The road going up and down the mountain.  There were quite a few hairpin turns.

Panorama.

Trail Ridge Road crosses from Grand Lake to Estes Park.  We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center, which is at 11,796', and bought a couple of t-shirts (and used the flush toilets; I don't like the smelly alternatives).  We went on all the roads that didn't require going out of the park except Old Fall River Road, which was the original road, and Bear Lake Road, which required a timed entry.  We were going to do Old Fall River Road, which is a one way dirt road.  We checked with a park ranger and he said he was on it a couple of weeks ago and it was ok.  We got about 100 feet up the road and hit a pothole that neither one of us saw.  I bounced up about four inches and hit my head on the roof so we decided not to go any farther and backed out.  We headed back to the RV park.

After talking about it we decided that we wanted to go on Bear Lake Road and hike around the lake.  Bear Lake is on the east side of the park and we're on the west.  For Bear Lake Road a timed entry is required.  We watched the weather again and decided to go on Sunday, which would give us a day to rest before we got on the road again.  They release a limited number of timed entries the night before at 7pm, so I got on the computer and got one for 8-10am, which meant that we had to get to Bear Lake Road on the other side of the park before 10am.  I know I was thinking that it wouldn't be so crowded earlier, but getting up at 5:30 wasn't easy.

So on Sunday, August 16 we went back into the park and headed for Bear Lake Road.

On the way we saw this elk eating by the side of the road.

I'm so glad we decided to do this because it was beautiful!  The hike (stroll) was 0.6 miles long and we were done before I knew it.  There were a lot of people there but I wouldn't say it was overly crowded.  I can see why it's so popular.

Afterwards we drove back up the road to Sprague Lake.  It was 0.75 miles and much flatter.  It took us about the same amount of time on each hike.

Sprague Lake was pretty but not as much as Bear Lake, maybe because this is a man-made lake.  Mr. Sprague opened a lodge in 1910 and decided to make it a fishing lodge.  There wasn't a lake so he dammed a stream and made one.  The lodge operated until 1940.

On our way to Bear Lake we stopped at Moraine Park Discovery Center (they have flush toilets!).  They have a nice Nature Store gift shop run by the Rocky Mountain Conservancy.  We found their merchandise to be nicer and less expensive than the Xanterra gift shop at the Alpine Visitor Center.  There's also a Nature Store in Hidden Valley.

After both hikes were done it was lunchtime.  We remembered the view from the parking lot at the Moraine Park Discovery Center so went back there and ate our packed lunch.  This was our view.

We decided we had seen all we wanted to see and headed back to the RV park.  On the way we saw these two deer eating by the side of the road.

When we were going out the Kawuneeche entrance station on the west side of the park right before 2pm there was a long line of cars waiting to get in.

I took so many more photos but couldn't include them all here.

We've had a nice time seeing the park and relaxing here, and tomorrow we'll be...

...Roving on.


I have made the earth,
And created man on it.
I—My hands—stretched out the heavens,
And all their host I have commanded.
Isaiah 45:12