Echo Lake books out before the vans do. The campground sits at 10,600 feet in the spruce at the foot of Mount Blue Sky, half an hour west of town on CO-74 through Bergen Park and then Highway 103, and the season up there is short, so reserve the site on Recreation.gov first and put the van dates around it.
What that buys you is the morning. The summit road climbs more than 7,000 feet in 28 miles to 14,130 feet, the highest paved stretch in North America, and it starts just above the campground, so you are up on the tundra with the mountain goats and the bighorn while everyone else is still coming out of Denver. Summit Lake sits in a cirque near the top. Buy the timed entry ticket on Recreation.gov before you go, because none are sold at the gate and there is no cell service at the welcome station.
If you land late, or the dates you wanted at Echo Lake are gone, Chief Hosa off I-70 in Genesee is the catch, lower down and much closer to town.
Guanella Pass and Mount Bierstadt
The other high loop out of the foothills runs 22 miles between Georgetown and Grant, topping out at 11,669 feet in an alpine meadow with Bierstadt and Blue Sky on either side. The Mount Bierstadt trail leaves right from the pass, which is why people sleep up here instead of day-tripping it. Take Guanella Pass Campground about seven miles south of Georgetown, 18 sites at $26 and no hookups as of August 2026, or Burning Bear north of Grant on the Park County side. Large RVs are not recommended on the byway, and you park and camp in designated sites only.
Down in Evergreen, the lake is a 40-acre reservoir with a walking trail around it and summer boat rentals, but it is day-use only, so the night is still up at Echo Lake.
Rocky Mountain National Park
The park is the big drive north, and the overnight for it is better run out of Denver; the Denver campervan guide has Trail Ridge and the timed-entry rules.
For more beds than a campervan sleeps, the RV rentals in Evergreen page covers the larger motorhomes, though the summit road and Guanella both cap length, so keep the high loops to a van. For other starting points around the state, the Colorado campervan hub maps the rest.