Originally Posted by
NotALawyer
Thanks, I saw both of those in research and will consider! Has anyone tried Silver Moon Inn? That one looked to be in a good location as well.
I have. It's actually a great location - adjacent to the strip but just two blocks beyond the super heavy traffic going through Estes Park on BUS-34 to the RMNP Beaver Meadows entrance. You can easily sneak out of the inn parking lot and get up to 34 to use the Fall River entrance, or over to Safeway or gas stations, etc.
This is very important in September as it gets extremely crowded.
Plus of course, it's just a couple blocks from the downtown strip.
The Inn itself is nice. Clean motel-style rooms, nice sitting areas out next to the river, snacks in the lobby.
My best advice for RMNP, if you plan on hiking and can tolerate it, is to get up way before sunrise and get to your trailhead before the sun comes up. I've taken the most majestic hikes without seeing a single person until getting to the trailhead at the end of the hike. An LED headlamp was invaluable to do this.
The shuttles are a great service and I used them a lot, but it's also nice avoiding the need to wait for and use them.