WHITE RIVER NATIONAL FOREST, Eagle-Vail — Skiers have enjoyed the long winter that has extended their season into June this year. However, those waiting for summer to show up are wondering how long it will take for some mountain campgrounds to thaw out.
Several campgrounds in Colorado's national forests have delayed their openings and are now warning campers they will stay closed into June.
Snow-covered campsites
A photo from the Kelly Dahl Campground near Nederland shows the conditions some campers faced around Memorial Day.
Kelly Dahl has 25 campsites available on recreation.gov. Most are already reserved for the first weekend in June, with only a few left for walk-up campers on Friday night.
The snowpack is also causing problems in some areas of the Pike & San Isabel National Forest.
Earlier this week rangers posted an update saying sections of two campsites will be able to open for the first weekend in June. However, others will remain closed for now.
Pictures posted last week show the problems around the campgrounds at Turquoise Lake and Halfmoon Creek Road. The snowpack is still as high as the picnic tables.
The White River National Forest has at least 15 campgrounds that still have not been able to set an opening date.
Most of those closures are around the Aspen and NW Flat Tops areas.
Where you CAN go
The melt is already well underway in many other areas within the White River National Forest.
Campgrounds outside of Aspen were open for Memorial Day. Only a few campsites at Gore Creek near Vail had patches of snow during the holiday weekend.
Closer to Lake Dillon, cold and stormy conditions kept some people away and left campsites that are normally packed open during Memorial Day.
Sites at the Peak One campground are already free of snow and have spectacular views of the mountains.
Lake Dillon remains low as Denver Water waits for the runoff from all the snow still sitting on those slopes.
Reservations for the Peak One campground and others around Lake Dillon are filling quickly for upcoming weekends on recreation.gov.
Backcountry camping conditions
Meanwhile, backcountry campsites in some mountain areas have other problems that could last deep into summer and beyond.
Avalanche debris has closed the Conundrum Creek Trail until further notice.
Images posted earlier this month show the snow is melting, but the tree damage is making it too dangerous to reopen the trail.
Rangers posted an update on May 28 saying work is underway to clear the trail despite snow still falling in that area. The goal at this point is to get the trail to the Conundrum Hot Springs reopened by late June.
Crews at another Aspen area landmark were able to open the road to the Maroon Bells just before Memorial Day.
Images posted on Facebook May 24 show the damage still left between the lake and the Maroon Bells.
High mountain roads
Several high mountain roads that typically open around Memorial Day are also still closed due to the deep snowpack this year.
No dates have been set for the opening of Mount Evans Highway or Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park.
CDOT is hoping to have Independence Pass ready to open by Friday evening just hours before the calendar flips to June.
Crews hope to post updates by Friday afternoon about whether Independence Pass will be open. This is one of the latest opening days since 2008 when the pass was closed until June 5.
This year, workers had to repair a section of guardrail damaged by an avalanche. They also had to clear the parking lot and a path to the bathrooms that were buried under several feet of snow as of May 15.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Local stories from 9NEWS