In accordance with guidance from the White House, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local public health authorities, RMNP plans to increase recreational access and services. RMNP continues to work with the State of Colorado to follow the “Safer at Home” guidance as well as with county and local officials as these changes are implemented. RMNP stretches across Larimer, Grand and Boulder counties.
The current Safer at Home guidance for the State of Colorado encourages Colorado residents to “limit activities to your immediate community, not travel more than 10 miles from your home to recreate or vacation and not travel to mountain areas.” The Colorado Tourism Office is currently discouraging vacations to Colorado to limit community spread of COVID-19. The Executive Order from the State of Colorado is set to expire on May 26 and can be amended or extended at any time.
The health and safety of park visitors, employees, volunteers, and partners continues to be paramount. RMNP staff continue to examine each facility function and service provided to ensure those operations comply with current public health guidance and will be regularly monitored. Park staff continue to conduct a decision and planning process to coordinate a phased reopening of the Park.
Park operations and services will look much different this year. Here is a list of the biggest changes:
Campgrounds:
Portions of Moraine Park and Glacier Basin Campgrounds will open on June 4.
The park’s three reservation campgrounds; Moraine Park, Glacier Basin and Aspenglen Campgrounds were originally scheduled to open Memorial Day Weekend. Park staff have contacted those campers to cancel those reservations.
Only Moraine Park and Glacier Basin Campgrounds will partially open on June 4, with approximately half of the campsites available for reservations. Aspenglen, Timber Creek and Longs Peak Campgrounds will remain closed.
Wilderness Backcountry Campsites:
Wilderness camping permits will be issued beginning May 27 through the autumn. In early May, park staff began contacting wilderness campers who had existing permits for the month of May to reschedule, if possible, their wilderness camping permits for later in the summer.
Shuttle Bus Operations:
Shuttle bus operations within the Bear Lake Road corridor will begin on May 27. It is unknown at this time whether the Hiker Shuttle from the Estes Park Visitor Center will be operating this summer. In order to practice proper social distancing to minimize community spread of Covid-19, the capacity of the shuttle buses in the Bear Lake Corridor will be limited to 15 passengers per trip.
Park staff are still determining the feasibility and timing of park visitor center operations as well as other services.
As more information becomes available we will post it here. For further information on RMNP, please visit www.nps.gov/romo or call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206.
With more than 350 miles of trails meandering throughout the park, hiking is the absolute best way to see Rocky Mountain National Park. In fact, the park offers a wide variety of outstanding hikes that take-in the best scenery the park has to offer. If you do plan to visit Rocky Mountain this year, please note that our hiking website also offers a wide variety of accommodation listings and other things to do to help with all your trip planning.
Jeff
RockyMountainHikingTrails.com
HikinginGlacier.com
TetonHikingTrails.com
HikingintheSmokys.com
Ramble On: A History of Hiking
Exploring Glacier National Park
Exploring Grand Teton National Park
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