Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park: Two Timed Entry Permits and Five Campgrounds

Rocky Mountain National Park is the park people are most likely to drive to and be turned away from. Not because it is full in the way a campground is full, but because since 2021 it has run a timed entry permit system, and a large share of visitors still arrive without one — or arrive with the wrong one, which is the more expensive mistake.

Everything about planning a camping trip here starts with that system, so it goes first.

There are two timed entry permits, and they are not interchangeable

For 2026 the park is running two separate permits, and picking the wrong one will strand you at the gate.

The Bear Lake Road Corridor permit covers the entire Bear Lake Road corridor and the rest of the park. It is valid from 5am to 6pm and it runs through Monday, October 19.

The Rest of Park permit covers everything except the Bear Lake Road corridor. It is valid from 9am to 2pm and it runs through Tuesday, October 13.

Read those hours carefully. The Bear Lake permit is the broader one in every sense — it covers more ground and a much longer window — which is why it is also the harder one to get. If Bear Lake, Emerald Lake, Sky Pond or Glacier Gorge is anywhere in your plan, that is the permit you need, and a Rest of Park permit will not get you up that road.

Both are booked on Recreation.gov, both cost only the $2 processing fee, and both work as a two-hour entry window — you choose a slot to arrive in, and once you are in you can stay as long as you like. The system starts on May 22, 2026.

Two things worth knowing. First, the permit is required only during those hours: enter before 5am or after 6pm on the Bear Lake corridor, or before 9am or after 2pm elsewhere, and you need no permit at all. Early starts are already the right call in this park for weather reasons, and they solve the permit problem as a side effect. Second, a timed entry permit is not an entrance pass. You need both.

The release calendar

Permits are released a month at a time, at 8am Mountain Time on the first of the preceding month. May 1 releases May 22 through June 30. June 1 releases July plus whatever June dates remain. July 1 releases August, August 1 releases September, and September 1 releases October.

In practice: put an alarm on the first of the month, be logged in to Recreation.gov before 8am MT with your dates and your preferred entry window already decided, and know which of the two permits you actually want before the clock starts.

The five campgrounds

Moraine Park is the one to want. It is the only campground open year round, it sits in the meadow where the elk rut happens, and it is close to the Bear Lake Road corridor. Non-electric sites are $30 a night, electric sites $55. The summer season runs May 21 to October 19, 2026, with a winter season either side; winter sites come with a picnic table, tent pad, fire ring and a food storage box.

Glacier Basin sits on Bear Lake Road itself and is the shuttle-friendly choice, with group sites at $50 to $70 a night. Its 2026 season is short — May 21 to September 8 — so it drops off the table earlier than people expect.

Aspenglen is the small, quiet one near the Fall River entrance, $35 a night for non-electric and $55 for electric, open May 21 to September 28, 2026.

Timber Creek is the only campground on the west side, near Grand Lake, and it has the shortest season of all in 2026 — May 21 to August 10. The west side is wetter, greener, quieter and has the moose. If your trip is about solitude rather than the headline lakes, this is the side to look at.

Longs Peak is tents only, first-come first-served, $30 a night, open July 2 to September 8, 2026, and it has no water. It exists for people starting the Longs Peak route in the small hours. Treat it as a trailhead with tent pads rather than a campground.

All four reservable campgrounds book through Recreation.gov, and summer weekends go months in advance.

Wilderness camping is a separate system with a canister rule

Backcountry — the park calls it wilderness — camping needs its own permit, currently $30 per trip, booked through the park's wilderness office rather than lumped in with the campgrounds. Sites are designated, and you are assigned specific ones for specific nights.

The rule that catches people: hard-sided bear-resistant food canisters are required for wilderness camping in this park. A hang is not an accepted substitute. If you do not own one, plan to buy or hire before you arrive, and remember it has to hold everything scented, not just food.

Trail Ridge Road decides your itinerary, not the other way round

Trail Ridge Road crosses the park at over 12,000 feet and it is the reason a lot of people come. It is also closed for most of the year. The average winter closure date is October 23; it has opened as early as May 7 and closed as late as December 2.

Two consequences for campers. If you are booked at Timber Creek on the west side and Trail Ridge is shut, the drive between the two halves of the park is several hours round the outside. And an October trip should have a plan that works with the road closed, because roughly half of Octobers it will be.

September and October belong to the elk

From September 1 through October 31, five meadows — Horseshoe Park, Upper Beaver Meadows, Moraine Park, Harbison Meadow and Holzwarth Meadow — close to all visitor use from 5pm to 10am daily for the elk rut. The legal minimum distance from elk is 75 feet, elk calling is prohibited, and so is using spotlights or headlights to spot wildlife.

If you are camped at Moraine Park in late September you will hear bugling all night from a meadow you are not permitted to enter. Watch from the road pull-outs at dawn and dusk, bring binoculars, and dress for a cold, still hour of standing about.

Kit notes for Rocky

Everything here is at altitude, so start with sleep: a bag rated colder than the forecast and a pad with real insulation, because a 9,000-foot campground can freeze in September and your first two nights will be broken anyway. Our Sleep & Comfort range is the place to begin. Stake the tent properly every time — afternoon wind on an exposed site is routine, and our Tents & Shelter range is worth reading for guy-out points rather than headline weight. Carry a shell you can reach in seconds, because storms build after noon and lightning is a genuine hazard above treeline.

Use the food storage box at every frontcountry site and a canister in the wilderness, and keep everything scented in it — our Camp Kitchen range covers the sealable side of that. Filter all water; alpine streams are not safe untreated. Sunscreen, a brimmed hat and real sunglasses matter more at 11,000 feet than they do at sea level in July, and the small items live in our Camp Essentials range. Carry enough water capacity for a ridge day with no source, which usually means a proper daypack from Packs & Bags. And bring a real headlamp from our Light & Power range: dawn starts are the correct way to camp in this park, and they happen in the dark.

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Last updated: August 2026. Timed entry rules, permit fees, campground seasons and road openings change every year — confirm current details with the National Park Service and Recreation.gov before you travel.