Camping at Golden Gate Canyon State Park

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Camping in Colorado is a great way to enjoy the outdoors with the whole family. With 41 state parks, 4 National Parks and thousands of BLM acres, there are so many options. Golden Gate Canyon State Park is one of our favorites and so close to Denver.

We’ve had yet another amazing weekend camping at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. This trip was a last minute, spur of the moment decision and also close to home, which turned out to be just the perfect mix between being active and also having some R&R whitout a lot of time on the road.

We had already hiked this park several times before, more notably the infamous Burro Trail, which we hiked pre-kid and was quite brutal. So we knew we would have to find an “easier” hike to do with a child. I say easier, because Golden Gate Canyon State Park doesn’t have any easy trails. They all start at moderate to very difficult per park guidelines. We found out the hard way on the Burro Trail, those definitions are also assigned by Colorado standards, which means you need to be in great shape to take on a moderate trail or you might need to be rescued!

But with everything in life, there is always an upside. In this case, the camping ground at Golden Gate Canyon State Park is more developed than most parks in Colorado including flush toilets, showers and even a laundry room. All RV sites include electric power, which for us is like living in luxury! LOL

A Weekend Camping and Hiking Golden Gate State Park

Day 1: we arrived in the afternoon and set up our camp. Then we decided to explore the nearby Raccoon trail which loops the campground. It was a great trail to get acclimatized with the altitude and get us in the camping mindset.

Day 2: we hiked Dude’s Fishing Hole trail. It was a nice short hike (less than 1 mile roundtrip) to a beautiful pond. We rested and played on the water’s edge for a while before heading back up the trail. In the afternoon, we took a long relaxing nap since it started raining.

If you are new to hiking, here is a handy post on what to pack for a day hike.

Day 3: we hiked the Racoon trail again, this time to Panorama point. This was a beautiful trail, however a little more difficult than we were told. At one point the incline was steep and it was uphill for the majority of the trail, but the views were amazing. I just wished we would have hiked it counter clockwise so we would have been mostly downhill. The park ranger we talked to somehow neglected to give us this very valuable piece of information!

By the way, if you don’t want to do this hike, but still want to see Panorama Point, you can drive to it and check it out from the platform.

We had another great family weekend camping at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Have you been? What is your favorite trail?

To watch the vlogs, click here.

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If you like this post on camping and hiking at Golden Gate Canyon, you might also enjoy these other posts about things to do in Colorado:

• Rocky Mountain Camping and Hiking
• Rocky Mountain Wildlife Refuge
• Burro Trail: Golden Gate Canyon
• What to see and do in Salida
• The Most Instagrammable Places in Colorado Springs
• Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs
• Great Sand Dunes National Park
• Eldorado Canyon State Park
• Paint Mines
• Gross Reservoir in Boulder
• Bear Lake Trail
• Flatiron Vista Trail
• Fountain Valley Trail
• Dinosaur Ridge
• Loveland Colorado
• How to become more outdoorsy
• The Summit Trail
• Cedar Gulch Trail
• Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier
• Tips for Visiting Pike Peak
• Tips for Visiting Mount Evans
• Pike’s Peak Cog Railroad

This website contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate and participant in other programs, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.