My husband and I will be camping at Mary E for the first time this coming year. Any tips/tricks and more importantly, anyone else camping there that wants to hang? We picked up a vehicle pass too for convenience. I did some googling and the campground looks absolutely GORGEOUS and I can’t wait to go!!!
Only place I have ever stayed. All I picked up today was Lawson Hill. Holding out hope to get some Mary E passes. Its the best for shade and privacy. River is a short walk too.
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We just picked up 4 tickets to Mary E today. We’ll be traveling from the Dallas area with another family of friends. First time for all of us. Bringing our young kids too (7 & 5 - wish us luck). We’ve all camped before but this will be the most primitive camping we’ll have done, thus far. Wife’s and daughters bday is in June, so we’re hoping for a fun bday/festival weekend. I’ve been researching all day, since buying the tickets. Trying to be as prepared as possible. Still hoping to get a vehicle pass, but not keeping my fingers crossed. With little ones (4 total - 2 from each family) it’d be nice to have a car handy, especially since we’re newbies and don’t quite know what to expect. Either way…We can’t wait!
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Welcome to Mary E. We are generally a great bunch of people. I will have a free solar system to plug stuff in at. It has been the only place I have stayed for the last 10 years I have gotten to go. This will also be the 9th year for working the welcome booth when you first drive in. Love it out there. The buses are the best thing about staying out there. No driving! You have a safe and sober driver every trip into town. It does get cold though. Bring plenty of blankets. If you have any questions please ask. You will get an honest answer. We want to see everyone have fun.
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Bring your kids bikes. There is so much good riding for kids in the campground. There is plenty of space to spread your camp out a little if you do not get a vehicle pass. Bring extra blankets. It can get a little cold. If you have any questions just ask. This will be my tenth year, and 9th year working the welcome gate at the campground. I will also be the guy with the big solar power setup. I let everyone plug their phones in. Nice safe space to charge your phone. Stop by and say hi.
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Does anyone have any pro tips for bringing your 9 month old? She’s already a huge Sam Bush fan…
Give this thread a deep dive! There’s tons of info for festivating with little ones here: TBF 101 for families
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Is there any jammin at MEI campground?
Not a allot, sorry. But bring your instrument and get something going. Who knows.
That is why i am trying to move to TP or WF not holdin out much hope though as it seems a lot of people are also trying!
Come Saturday when both TP and Mary E open, and walk through TP and the Box office area and you’ll probably find some TP tickets.
boy a lot of posts on that thread are old…hope some folks still check it out though!
Hey Skyrunner can i charge my electric scooter on your big solar power setup?
@skyrunner
Hello! We’ll be staying at MEI this year! We got lucky and scored a vehicle pass. It’s been about 10 years since I’ve stayed at MEI. Loved it then and I’m sure I will again. I prefer the shade and the more chill, actual camping vibe. Sounds like you have a good amount of experience at MEI. I’ll be arriving about 4 days early. Any tips on where in the campground I should aim for? Do you know if I will be able to drive in and out of the campground after I have found a spot (for the days before the fest starts)? Also, I heard there is a path I could walk or ride a bike from the campground to the festival, know anything about that? Any other info info that you think would be helpful is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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Check out the Festival access portion of this it has some info about riding a bike
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When you leave MEI campground, if you take a right onto the road and follow it somewhere about 1/2-1 mile, down the road, the Galloping Goose trailhead will be on your left side. The first mile of trail is the most difficult but really an entry level MTN bike trail. My wife road it, and she’d never MTN biked before (though the steep edge drop off freaked her out at one point). After the first mile or so the trail mellows out, and after another mile or so you’ll be at the Lawson Hill campground, and the Telluride Brewing Company, which makes a nice pit stop on the way into town. From Lawson and Brewery on the trail is mostly flat and paved all the way into town, about another 2 miles easy ride. From town you can take the gondola to mtn and ride trails all downhill, intermediate to advanced level, all the way back to Lawson and loop back to MEI. All the outfitters have excellent trail guides and maps. Unless you have good lights I wouldn’t plan on riding these trails after dark!
The year we stayed at MEI, we arrived on the opening Saturday before festival, got a sweet spot walking distance to river, and hiked and rode bikes every day pre festival. On the one day we had Nightgrass tickets we slept in, and road bikes into town in the afternoon and tarp hopped before going to dinner and catching Nightgrass. we locked bikes in town and rode the shuttle back to MEI. Wen ever rode bikes for attending full festival days, as thats too much gear to haul!
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Hello, Yes there is a path all the way to the back of the campground that you can drive on. There is are great spots everywhere. I a hope to be beside the road to the left. Right after the first big right hand turn. I set up a solar power system to let everyone plug in and charge their phones. If I can get that spot anyway. Yes you are allowed to drive in and out until Wednesday morning. The busses will also start running then. There is no real good bike path all the way to the campground and would be really dangerous after sun down, sorry. I also plan on going down Mon or Tues.
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Hi, yes. If I can get my reg spot, or close to it I will have everything all set up to charge. As far as I know you can charge it. I have a 1000w inverter.
How early do we need to show up to get a decent camping spot? Is it naive to think we can show up Wednesday night or Thursday morning and find something good?
The “best” spots will all be gone by Monday evening/Tuesday morning. There’ll be plenty of open sites on Wednesday, but nothing great or special. And by Thursday morning it’ll be spots closest to bathrooms, and furthest away from shuttle. Best to get there by Monday if you want better locations. Plus there’s so much to do before fest starts, and you’ll have access to the pre fest events in Town Park till wednesday night!
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