[A/S] Estes Park

[Jack Canavera <jackcanavera@xxxxxxxxx>]

For those of you who have never made the trip, it is
absolutely worth your time.  We have spent two trips
there and I never tire of this part of the country.
It's not unusual to see a group of elk walk through
the east side of town through the town's major
intersection on their way to a lake.  

You have quite a choice of campgrounds with views,
near streams, in valleys and up on the hills.  We have
stayed at National Park Resort which is a private CG
just next to the north entrance to the National Park. 
This one is on the side of a mountain so you have to
drag your trailer up some good sized hills but the
view is just great.  Not the best CG from a facilities
standpoint but its really neat to have the big horn
sheep come down the mountain in the evening to graze.

Other than coming in from the west over Trail Ridge
Road, you have two main highways coming into town. 
One is the west direction through the Loveland Pass
which you enter from Loveland Colo.  We pulled that
with my old 28' SOB last year.  It is pretty much a
constant climb but I consider towing friendly.  We did
gear down a couple times but our lowest speed was
about 30 to 35 mpg and most of that was because of the
winding curves.  The road is spectacular with its
towering cliffs and river side views.  It's
unbelievable that a massive wall of water came down
this pass years ago during a thunderstorm that sat
just south of Estes Park. 

Another highway (I think it is 36) comes into Estes
from the southwest.  It looks on the map like it is a
short cut and would allow you a diagonal route rather
than going north (assuming you are coming via Denver)
to Loveland and then west to Estes.  This highway has
some extremely steep grades.  I tackled this road
towing a 21' Hi-Lo with my GMC van with a 350 engine. 
We geared down quite a few times and the fan clutch
stayed engaged quite a bit.  Unless you have used this
highway or have a good puller, I would avoid this
route.

Unfortunately my wife didn't adapt to the altitude on
the last trip so we had to leave earlier than we
originally planned.

Regards,

Jack