Hermit Park Open Space

Stay away, park rangers out of control!
I came to this park to stay with my family around 10p with my girlfriend to spend the night. We drove into this park, nothing was lit up and we couldn’t see very well. Finally after a long drive we get to the camp ground where my family was. I started to get my girlfriend’s and my tent set up but then ranger señor and ranger junior stop their truck by me and ask «how many people do you guys have?» I told them we had 7 or 8 then the old guy said «well 8 is the maximum.» I told him ya, I know, we have under that. Apparently the old guy ranger didn’t like me talking back, so he and the sport (young ranger kid) got out and the younger guy started shadowing me, looking in my tent, acting like I was a threat! Then the old guy started walking all over our camp ground, asking who rented out the camp ground. So a friend of mine goes and gets my father. The old guy proceeded to tell us that we can only have 8 people, and 4 tents (apparently these rangers have trouble with basic math). We had up 5, but none of us knew that. He also said my girlfriend and I didn’t get a ticket for our car which I told him that we didn’t see a sign for it being 10p. He said they were lit up which is a lie and if they are it is very small print. He said he’d have to fine me $ 20 if I didn’t go back down and get the ticket. I was so tempted to hand his old condescending FILL IN THE BLANK $ 20 just to go away at this point. And then to top if off, his partner the young ranger stood right next to my girlfriend almost shoulder to shoulder like he was flirting with her (scum bag). Naturally I pulled her away from him and I was really having trouble staying in control at this point.
Bottom line if you go here, remember only 4 tents, and 8 people, and stay off their «grass.» And if you drive in you have to pay for your car, don’t expect to see any signs explaining otherwise at night.

I recently hiked the Kruger Hike trail and really enjoyed it! First of all, it’s dog friendly which is always a huge plus for me. It’s just about 4 miles round trip, so it’s not super long. It gains about 900 feet in elevation but never feels really strenuous. Last weekend there was snow on the trail, but it was well marked and easy to follow up to the top. When you make it to the end of trail, make sure to climb to the very top of the rocks. You have to do a little bit of scrambling to get there, but the views are so worth it! You get a fantastic look at Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The location is great, just a couple of miles away from Estes Park, which is a fun place to stop after you hike. Our group (plus 2 doggies) had a great morning hiking Kruger rock, and would definitely bring other friends and family to check it out.

We camped here for one night and were not super impressed with the place. To start, I had to pay for two nights rather than one when I reserved the campsite because of the minimum. When we came in the people at the front desk charged us to get in and showed us our site on the map without going over any guidelines of any sort. She also did not mention there are only two water stations on the entire 4 mile stretch of road. They also have a rule that you cannot take any wood from the forest, forcing us to purchase their firewood, and when we got to our site and explored the woods behind us, there was plenty of burnable dead and cut down firewood. Also beware of the approaches to the road at the end of a loop, huge ruts I thought I broke my front bumper and I was not going fast!

We camped here for 4 nights. It’s about a 20 minute drive to Estes park (most of the drive is in the Hermit Open Space itself). It was a gorgeous drive in and out. The campsites are pretty but didn’t have amazing views. There was a good amount of privacy. I didn’t feel like I was in the middle of an RV park :) The staff was very friendly and helped us out quite a bit.
It does cost an extra 9 $ a day to be there on top of the camping fee. I think the total was about 35 $ a night. They have wood available to buy at the office. There’s a water pump at the entrance of the campground and a trash, but the toilets don’t have water.
Overall we had a very pleasant and peaceful time here :)

We used the pavilion at Hermit Park for our wedding reception this September. The woman at the entrance office couldn’t have been friendlier. She made passes for all our guests and made us feel very special. Our caterers had no issue setting up and served a beautiful buffet. There were about one million picnic tables in and around the pavilion. We hung string lights around the edges of the pavilion and there were 4 spotlights installed that were perfect. Not too bright, but provided great light. There is a fire pit so we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. We ended the evening gazing up at the vast expanse of stars. It was a perfect night.

Hiked the Kruger Rock Trail on a cool summer evening. It was a fun, moderately strenuous hike with some great stops along the way to take pictures. I took more than a few pictures as I caught my breath since the air is so much thinner than what I’m used to! The campgrounds looked like fun; a large group of people were there for a wedding.