Find Your Park

Colorado is very fortunate to have four unique and amazing national parks. Having sprung back to life in spring after a national recess, summer is when the parks all see the most visitors thanks to the enviable combination of incredible and diverse terrain and attractions and Colorado’s typical blue sky days. Campers are also out in full force in summer, taking advantage of being able to sleep in the great outdoors. Throughout spring, snow melt filled waterways and now the parks are teeming with life of all kinds

Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve

One of the youngest and most unique national parks in the system, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has 30 sq mi of sand dunes, including the highest dunes in North America. The park attracts a very large number of visitors in summer and in addition to the dunefield there are grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and six 13,000-foot mountains.

While climbing and surfing the dunes is a must, sand surface temperatures can reach 150F on sunny summer afternoons. On these days it is best to wait until the temperature has dropped before venturing out onto the sand. Average daytime highs reach around 75-80F. The mountain areas of the park are perfect for exploring when temperatures are too high on the sand. Summer evenings are surprisingly cool thanks to the park being 8,200 feet above sea level, and so are a good time to consider making your way out to High Dune on the first ridge (a 2.5- mile round trip that will take around two hours) or Star Dune (the tallest in the dunefield at 755 feet; a trip will take closer to five hours). Two sand wheelchairs are available for loan at the visitor center, one designed for adults and one for children.

With such huge swings in temperature, layered clothing is recommended as it can drop to around 40F. Also in summer, afternoon thundershowers are common, especially in July and August, and with them often comes lightning. You need to get off the dunes as soon as you can if it looks as if a thunderstorm is threatening. Lightning strikes are common and can be fatal.

Medano Creek is a popular seasonal creek that is currently flowing at average annual peak flow, however, that won’t last through summer. Check the park’s website for current creek conditions. The flowing creek also means that weekends are extremely crowded with long lines of traffic and full campgrounds. Plan to visit on a weekday for a better experience.

Summer is a great time to camp at Sand Dunes. Piñon Flats Campground is open and camping is also permitted anywhere in the dunefield (outside of the day use area). There is a limit of 20 parties in the dunefield per night; permits are free and are issued on a first-come-first-served basis.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Summer at Rocky is peak visitation time so you can expect congestion on roads and trails, so advance planning is essential. Probably the best thing you can do, if possible, is to schedule your visit between Monday and Thursday.

The main reason that the park is so busy during the summer is because almost all areas are accessible, including Long’s Peak, Rocky’s 14er.

Much like spring, lower elevations can bring gloriously sunny days, but higher elevation parts of the park can be frigid with snow, so plan accordingly, particularly if you are planning on exploring different areas of the park.

Another big difference in summer is that Trail Ridge Road is open. Connecting Estes Park on the east side of the park and Grand Lake on the west side, Trail Ridge Road is actually US Highway 34 and goes right over the Continental Divide with at least 20 miles of road exceeding 11,000 feet in elevation and peaking at 12,381 feet.

As for what you can see in Rocky in the summer, animals tend to spread out with herds of elk moving up to the alpine tundra where the weather is cooler. You may see elk in other ares, but it is all but assured on the tundra. You can also see bighorn sheep inside the park in late spring and early summer when they descend from the Mummy Range to Sheep Lakes in Horseshoe Park. They typically leave the park in the second or third week of August. Moose, coyotes, mountain lions, mule deer and bears also call the park home.

With Rocky covering several different climate systems, you can see wildflowers blooming at different times in different parts of the park.

Whether you’re taking a short hike or a multi-day trip, always check trail conditions online or stop in at a visitor center. RMNP has five visitor centers, some of which are open year round while and others are only open seasonally. Pick up a hiking brochure at entrance stations, visitor centers, or at staffed trailheads to find the right hike for you.

RMNP also offers several rangerled programs year round. Programs offered throughout summer include night sky programs, evening programs and you can also catch the 23-minute park movie ‘Spirit of the Mountains” at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and Kawuneeche Visitor Center.

Mesa Verde National Park

Unique among national parks, Mesa Verde National Park offers a look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made the area their home for over 700 years from 550 AD to 1300 AD. The park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde, along with sites in the Four Corners area, have allowed archeologists to compile the story of one of the most significant chapters in the story of ancient America.

While Spruce Tree House remains closed for the foreseeable future due to continued safety concerns relating to rock falls, overlooks near the museum offer superb views of the cliff dwelling.

Balcony House is open for tours, but the one-hour tour involves climbing a 32-foot ladder to enter the site. You will also crawl through a 12-foot tunnel which is just by 18 inches wide and climb 60 feet up an exposed cliff face using two ladders. Tours of Balcony House are by ticket only.

Away from organized tours, Mesa Verde offers the chance to explore on your own. There are exhibits at the visitor center and Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum that provide insights into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo. For something a bit more active, the 2.4- mile Petroglyph Point Trail leads to a large petroglyph panel. It begins near the museum.

Twelve miles from Far View Lodge (the only lodging inside the park) is Wetherill Mesa and Long House cliff dwelling. The five-mile Long House Loop can be explored by foot or bicycle where you can stop to see several cliff dwelling overlooks. Tickets for a two-hour ranger-guided tour of Long House can be purchased at the visitor center.

Summer can be very hot at Mesa Verde, but is a great time to visit the park with programs and that aren’t on year round.

Until Sept 1, visitors can enjoy the Morefield Campground Evening Program. A National Park Service tradition, rangers give lectures in the amphitheater about Mesa Verde’s natural and cultural history. There is no fee, but you might need a flashlight!

Also this summer, the Four Corners Lecture Series continues with a range of talks and performances including very special performances of traditional Hopi dances by the Lomayestewa family at the Mesa Verde Visitor and Research Center on Saturday June 29 at 11 am, Noon, 2 pm and 4 pm and Sunday, July 30 at the same times.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Summer is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison’s busy season and while visitor numbers are dwarfed by other parks in the system, the size and layout of the park means that it can feel as crowded as any other park, so if you want to avoid the crowds, get an early start or camp out and get up with the dawn! Even though it is one of the smaller parks in the network, the Black Canyon packs in the spectacle.

Summer brings a good percentage of the park’s annual precipitation, so be sure to check the weather before you venture out to avoid disappointment, although unless the rain is particularly heavy, you will be able to find somewhere to hike, and the canyon looks stunning in all weather, anyway. If you are planning on taking your four-legged friend, note that dog restrictions will be in effect for South Rim Campground and the Rim Rock Trail from June 1 to Aug. 10, 2019.

Summer also means the East Portal Campground is open. Technically located within Curecanti National Recreation Area, the campground is two miles downstream of Crystal Dam at the bottom of the canyon. Accessed via a turn off at the park’s entrance station and an extremely steep (15% grade) five-mile drive with hairpin curves down to the river, the campground is shaded by box elder trees and is near the historic Gunnison River Diversion Tunnel, a technological marvel of its day. There are 15 sites with vault toilets. There is water in summer. Vehicles with an overall length greater than 22 feet are prohibited.

East Portal Road is also the easiest access point for fishing the gold medal water and wild trout water of the Gunnison River within Black Canyon. The gold medal waters begin 200 yards downstream of Crystal Dam and continue to the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Of the more than 9,000 miles of trout streams in Colorado, only 168 miles are designated as gold medal.

Elevation in the park ranges from 5,400 feet at the bottom of the canyon to 8,775 feet on Signal Hill, and as such the flora and fauna change with it. The rims of the canyon are dominated by scrub oak and pinyon-juniper forests as well as some high-desert sagebrush while the north-facing slopes have Douglas fir and Colorado blue spruce. Down in the canyon and near the river it is a different story with deciduous trees and shrubs.

The North Rim of the Black Canyon is much less visited and offers a different experience. It can be accessed via North Rim Road (which is itself accessed from CO Highway 92 at Crawford).