I recently went tent camping in Golden Gate Canyon State Park and found another excellent example of state parks in Colorado's backyard. One thing I have always loved about Colorado was the great parks system. Compared to my last home in California, Colorado parks tend to be cleaner for one thing but they are also plentiful and easily accessible.


Golden Gate Canyon State Park is just about an hour's drive from the Denver metro area off of Highway 93 just outside of the town of Golden (known by itself as the home of Coors Brewery and Colorado School of Mines). I had heard of Golden Gate through a coworker and the lucious looking green trees in the photos on the website were enough to convince me to check it out.


New to me was the option to reserve a campsite on the state park website ( http://parks.state.co.us/Parks/GoldenGateCanyon/ ). If you do want to reserve your site, you do have to make the reservation at least three days in advance. I just called ahead to see if they had any availability the day before travel. I was told that there should be some sites available, but to check back on the day of travel. The day I set out I was told that 10 sites would be available in each of the two major campsites. At check in time, noon each day, there were still several sites available to choose from.

The park has two major camping sites, Aspen Meadows and Reverend's Ridge. Aspen Meadows features tent-only camping, two water pumps and a vault toilet facility but no showers or hot water. Reverend's Ridge offers both tent and RV camping with showers, flush toilets, laundry and dumping facilities. Fifty-nine of the 97 sites at Reverend's Ridge have electrical hook ups, which cost $18 a night versus $14 for non-electrical sites.

Preferring a more primitive style of camping, Aspen Meadows appealed to me more. Each of the 32 sites has a tent pad, picnic table and fire pit with a cooking grill that folds down (perfect for grilling bratwurst). Up to six people are allowed to camp in a single site, with some of the sites varying in size to accommodate more than a single tent. Some of the sites are more set back from the dirt entrance road than the others but I still felt like I was in a relatively private site. The facility looked very well maintained. There were also a few hiking trails very close by.

I hiked the 3.0 mile Snowshoe Trail which was a nice loop that started and ended in the Aspen Meadows camping area. It was listed as difficult and definitely did have some steep climbs, but it was a gorgeous hike and is certainly doable for people in moderately good shape. My companion and I had to rest at a few points, but were not overly stressed by the workout. Be sure to bring water and maybe a light snack. The trail winds around at about 8,000 feet elevation starting by Dude's Fishing Hole and ending in the area next to one of the camp sites. The trail is pretty well marked with metal poles along the trail, but a few areas we had to kind of guess where the trail headed off to, so hiking in plenty of light is a good idea.

The other trails range in length and degree of difficulty but there are plenty to choose from and the Visitor's Center provides a map when you pick up your daily pass ($6 in addition to the camping fee) upon entry into the park. Just a short trip from Denver or Colorado Springs, it is definitely worth the time.