Winding River Resort

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The Basics

ADDRESS: 1447 County Road 491, Grand Lake, Colorado

LOCATION: North of Grand Lake, only 2 miles northeast of the Rocky Mountain National Park Kawuneeche Visitor Center

LAST VISIT: 2019

We loved our stay at Winding River Resort! The campsite was huge and easy to navigate in and out of.
The views of the surrounding mountains were wonderful.
The resort has many different amenities and activities, but in a location like this, we spend very little time at the campsite, so all I can tell you is that the utilities all worked as expected, and the laundry facilities were clean.
The gravel road from the resort to the Kawuneeche Visitor Center made for a really nice, flat 4 mile round trip bike ride when we just wanted to relax a little.
On the Trail Rentals is right behind the resort, and they rent snowmobiles, side x sides (RZRs), slingshots, and mountain bikes, and the Supply Jeep Trail is right behind the rental facility. We considered renting a side x side, but decided to just use the Jeep for the trails.
The location of the campground is just unbeatable!
We met a couple who spend a month there every fall, and they had wonderful things to say about the campground and amenities.
The only drawback is that you do pay the price for getting to stay at such a wonderfully convenient location... we love it there, but we won't be among the people who can spend a month there.

Our Opinion

We love it, and will return at the first chance we get!

This is one of our favorite types of campgrounds - the ones where you feel like you're staying in a state park or forest service area, but you get full hookups and laundry facilities.

Things to See and Do

Here are some nearby activities that we enjoyed:

Rocky Mountain National Park
Our favorite thing to do was to drive into the park late afternoon/early evening, and look for wildlife. We were never disappointed at that time of day! We also drove across the park to Estes Park and back. That is definitely a "can't miss" drive.

Beacon Landing Marina Pontoon Boat Rental
We rented a pontoon boat for an early morning fishing/sightseeing excursion. The staff at the marina was great, and the boat was in good condition. It was COLD out that morning, though! It was really fun to do something a little out of our ordinary routine. We usually do our sightseeing by hiking, biking, or driving. We would like to go back and rent a boat for a longer trip!

Stillwater Pass (very easy 4WD road; suitable for high clearance 2WD)
Stillwater Pass was a beautiful drive. We enjoyed it so much that we did the first part more than once. There were some spectacular areas covered with paintbrush and columbine.

Rollins Pass West (4WD road)
I hate to keep reusing the word "spectacular," but this was another incredible drive! The views of Corona Lake, and the view from the top of the pass are just awe-inspiring. In fact, our Corona Lake photos remain some of my favorite photos of all-time. The drive definitely requires a high clearance vehicle, but it wasn't scary (at least not to this particular chicken...).

Supply Jeep Trail
Confession time: The 4WD trail starts right behind the campground, and we did use it, but I'm writing this page a couple of years later, and I'm having trouble remembering the specifics about that trail. All I remember is that it definitely not a place to take your standard 2WD car. I think there may have been enough dust kicked up by all of the fast moving ATVs and side x sides that we didn't spend much time on the trail.