Vedauwoo and Beyond: Trails and Camp Food

We stayed at Vedauwoo in Wyoming longer than anywhere else on this trip west. Most days, we never even started up the truck.  There were plenty of hiking trails nearby, and we were well stocked with food and drink to prepare at the campsite.  

One of our favorite hikes was about a half mile walk down the road from Site #13 and left from the parking lot where the vault toilet was conveniently located.  It was set up as a horse trail with hitching rails nearby, but we didn't see any horses that week in early June. 

It was a wide, easy to follow in and out trail.

Most of the time.

 

Hiking early in the day, we rarely saw other people or dogs, which is my favorite kind of hiking.

Not far from Vedauwoo is the Pole Mountain section of the Medicine Bow National Forest.  We checked this area out for future dispersed camping opportunities.  There were campgrounds here, but they were not yet open for the season in early June.   Why you might ask?  The elevation was higher. And there was snow.

We did some hiking here, and the terrain was much more wooded than Vedauwoo.

We treated ourselves that night to a delicious dinner and a bottle of wine from our friends in Blue Earth.  They made us promise to drink it in a fabulous place, and our Scamp campsite at Vedauwoo definitely qualified. 

Vedauwoo Recreation Area, Wyoming

 

When I started researching Vedauwoo during the planning of this trip, I was pretty sure that I was going to like it.  The area checked lots of my boxes.  High elevation, free camping, thirty minutes from a college town (Laramie), trails, and interesting rocks.  

This area is closed to campers (with gates across the road) until about June 1st each year.  We drove in from Nebraska on June 2nd. Vedauwoo is literally right off of Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie.  The closest "town" is Buford (population 1).  Verizon cell phone service was iffy but could be improved to two bars by climbing a nearby rock formation. 

Pronounced Vee-da-voo, the area is popular among rock climbers and off road vehicle enthusiasts.  Rock climbing is a silent sport and doesn't bother me a bit, although I have no urge to do technical climbing.  Off-road vehicles don't bother me a bit until someone turns the key.  Then the noise and dust can be quite annoying.  Thankfully, most of the time that we were here, the dust and noise were minimal.  As the weekend approached, the noise and dust increased but only near the road. There was one younger boy that drove up and down the road from sunrise to sunset, back and forth, back and forth.  We tried to stay far away from the road when things got dusty and noisy.

Dispersed camping is different here from other places that I've been.  You must camp in assigned spots, which are numbered.  That might seem  like a negative, but it didn't turn out that way.  The numbered campsites are extremely well-spaced, and there's got to be at least a hundred of them.  The system actually worked well to keep people from bunching up too close together.  The spot we finally settled in (lucky 13) was a couple of hundred yards from the next nearest camper.  

Back yard

Side yard

 

Front yard

There is a pay campground here also, but the sites are much tighter together, and there is no good reason to stay there.  All water must be brought in, although there is a spigot at a rest area on the way to Laramie.  There was also a vault toilet about a ten minute walk from our campsite.  It was kept clean and well-stocked by U.S. Department of Agriculture employees.

What's to love about this place?  For me it was the rock formations. As mentioned before, I'm not a technical climber, but there are so many rock formations to play around in.  It really made me feel like a little kid to run around in and on top of the rocks.  Pure joy!

The elevation was over 8000 feet at our camp, so we enjoyed warm days (70's) and cool nights (40's).  After each day of exploring, we had plenty of time for food and drink.  We stayed six days.

We made a few side trips to visit Laramie and Cheyenne and also did some hiking in the Pole Mountain area.  Those will be the subject of a separate post.  

 

Rock Springs Walmart

When I hitched up at Flaming Gorge to leave, I received a “low tire air” warning light. Sure enough, my rear driver’s side tire was down 20 percent. This was a good opportunity to use my portable air compressor for the first time. Actually, a better opportunity would have been to use it before leaving Wisconsin so that I knew how it worked.


Anyway, after a few struggles and tries, I figured out that the compressor’s tire fitting was threaded, which once screwed on to the tire valve, actually allowed air to enter the low tire. Once that was completed, I drove to the Walmart in Rock Springs to resupply and see if the tire air was holding. I suspected a slow leak. That same tire had been repaired about six months ago for a nail hole.

Now my wife and I have never been very big supporters of Walmart, which has driven many small independent businesses out of business. One nice thing that Walmart does do (sometimes) is to let recreational vehicle users stay overnight. Walmart figures they will spend some money resupplying, and it’s a cheap overnight for people on the road. Many Walmarts, in response to pressure from private campgrounds and local city councils , have stopped offering the service as ordinances are passed prohibiting overnight stays in parking lots.

Some of this is understandable, as there are always people who take advantage of the situation: staying for weeks, taking prime parking spots, leaving trash and worse behind, and generally treating the parking lot as their personal free campsite instead of just an overnight sleepover.

Thankfully, the Walmart in Rocks Springs, Wyoming, still allows overnight stays. When I asked for permission, the manager, seeing my shopping cart full of provisions, told me that it was ok to stay overnight but to park in the back of the parking lot (which I had already done). Knowing that I was going to Utah (where watered down beer happens), I stocked on beer, food, toiletries, and miscella-neous items (including ice cream). I took Elvis on long walks to make up for leaving him alone while I shopped, read, caught up on email and the blogs, and generally relaxed. That was the good part.

The bad part is personal to me. I need darkness to sleep. The security lights at Walmart make it seem like broad daylight at 3 am. I slept quite poorly. I know that I should have black-out curtains or an eye mask or something, but I think that I will make my overnight trips to Walmart infrequent. In the morning, I was glad to see that the tire was holding it’s pressure at 35 psi. I also checked the trailer tires which also were holding pressure. All good for the next adventure. To Salt Lake and beyond!

Flaming Gorge, Days Two and Three

My campsite has been so quiet until this morning that I’ve almost felt like I’m not supposed to be here. There is a gate leading down to the beach road that can be closed and locked. I hope that someone lets me know if the beach season suddenly ended without locking me inside this little corner of paradise.

I discovered a boat launch about a mile away by road walk and about one-half mile by a little-used trail. There are heated bathrooms with flush toilets here, along with a fish cleaning station with the water still on. I haven’t seen any boats launch from here, but there was a bit of boat traffic on the water late yesterday afternoon.

After our early morning hike, coffee and breakfast, blogging, and reading, the temperatures gradually rose throughout the day. I took a sirloin steak out of the freezer to defrost and decided to take Elvis to the water to cool off. Now, Elvis is 75% golden retriever and 25% poodle. You would think such a dog would be a natural swimmer., but that’s not the case. Elvis will sniff at the water like it’s some kind of trap, trying to get him. Because he was so hot, I was going to force the issue a bit. I started throwing sticks into the edge of the water, and he would tentatively go out and retrieve them—only realizing after he got back to shore that his legs were wet. How did that happen?

Finally, I started throwing the sticks out further in the water. He refused to go completely under, letting those sticks float away. But he did get in far enough to get his legs, underside and chest wet, which cooled him off and reinvigorated Elvis. He started running up and down the beach like a greyhound, shaking the water off and acting reborn.

After that excitement, I returned to the Brew Hut for my last beer (we didn’t bring much with us), reading on my Kindle, and then feeding Elvis. It was too hot to cook inside and too windy to cook outside, so I prepared a late dinner after the sun went down, cooling things off. I dined on sautéed spinach with garlic, mushrooms in butter, and one-third of a large sirloin steak. I saved the remainder for two more meals.

Early the next day, Elvis was primed to hike. We made a big circle around the area before coming back to the Brew Hut to brew coffee. As I went outside with my cup of steaming Brazilian, I walked around the other side of the Brew Hut and discovered an old, beater car parked less than 50 yards away. It was parked on a steep angle, and there was no evidence of condensation on the windows (which would mean someone was probably sleeping inside. My mind started racing. Stolen car? Hidden dead bodies? I walked closer, took a quick photo of the license plate, and then looked inside.

“What the F do you think you are looking at?” shouted a male voice. I turned around and discovered a young man fishing just below the cliff on which the Brew Hut was parked. “Oh, sorry, sorry,” I said retreating. “I didn’t notice you drive up and was surprised that someone parked so close to my camp.”
He didn’t respond or necessarily seem accepting of my explanation. The fisherman apparently caught no fish and moved on about twenty minutes later.

When your closest camping neighbor is one-half mile away, the sight of a strange car and a profane encounter leaves one a bit off-balance. Another cup of coffee and morning views of my herd of pronghorns provided the antidote.

The rest of the day went without incident, and we enjoyed a very quiet evening.  On the next morning, my original plans to drive to Moab shifted when I discovered one of the truck tires was low.  This gave me a chance to try out the new portable air compressor which attaches to the battery and reaches long enough for any of the truck’s tires.  After a some trial and error, the small machine worked the way it was supposed to, although it did heat up markedly. I decided to return to Rock Springs to resupply at Wal-Mart and do my first Wal-Mart stay-over in the parking lot.  I checked with the manager and he pointed out the proper part of the lot to park the Brew Hut.

Resupplied with beer, food, and toiletries, we are ready for the next part of the journey.  Hopefully, the truck tire cooperates.

Flaming Gorge, Days One and Two

After breaking camp above Green River, Elvis and I backtracked to Rock Springs to post blogs, download newspapers and podcasts, and gas up. Then we drove south of Interstate 80 to the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

The campgrounds in this area are quite popular and subject to reservation. I was a little bit worried that the campgrounds would be full, but I had a boondocking back-up plan. Upon arriving at Firehole Campground, I knew right away my my concern was misplaced. Not only was the campground empty of campers, it was closed for the season and gated. Hmmmm.

Time for the back-up plan. There were forest dirt/gravel roads all around the campground, and someone on the Campendium website mentioned camping without any problems at the beach close to the campground. The beach had several attributes, including beautiful views, potential swimming opportunities, and pit toilets.

The beach also had several downsides. Many of the “camping spots” were on soft, sandy ground. Getting stuck would not have been fun. The ground was sloping, and the best solid spot that I could find was not very level. I decided to make the best of it and set up camp anyway. Elvis and I hiked up and down the beach and across many of the gravel roads between the beach and the campground. In the process, I found a couple of other spots that seemed to work also. I noticed that the original beach area was extremely windy with blowing sand. In the afternoon, the trailer was already rocking and rolling, promising an interesting night.

So I bailed on the original site, prepared the Brew Hut for travel again, and moved about a half mile down a narrow, rutted road to a large turn-around circle that was gravel and appeared to be used as a campsite previously (evidence of bonfires). This was much better. Less windy, I had the Brew Hut situated so that the door was on the opposite of the direction of the wind, so that it was comfortable to sit outside and read.

I had already decided that it was going to be hamburger night, so the patties were sitting out to defrost by the sink. As I prepared dinner, I noticed that the temperature of the fridge was rising. Now I’ve had problems in the past regulating the temperature of the fridge, but it was always on the cold side, freezing food that shouldn’t be frozen. Hmmm. A half hour later, the temperature was 45, and I knew that something was wrong. Apparently, the gale-force wind had blown out the propane flame that keeps the fridge cold. At least, that was my first theory.

I followed the procedure for relighting the fridge. That process is not user-friendly. There is a tiny hole at the bottom of the fridge which is supposed to tell you if the flame is lit or not. The only problem is that flame is impossible to see during the daylight, leaving two options. The first option is to wait until it’s dark. The second option is to check a metal tube in the outside compartment to see if it’s getting hot. Either option takes time, and I was impatient to find out whether the fridge flame was out or if it was just dead. Fortunately, after about 30 minutes, the metal tube was warming up. I dialed down the fridge to colder. In the morning, it was back to normal, freezing food that it shouldn’t. I dialed the fridge back to low.

There is only one other camper within sight, and he's about half mile away. Temperatures fall into the mid 30’s at night and climb up into the 70’s during the day. Mornings are less windy, and the ample sun allows me to charge up all of my devices and top off the battery. Unless weekend partiers arrive, this spot seems like a great place to spend a few days.

The header shows a herd of pronghorn, I believe. They are frequent visitors to the nearby water but are very skittish. Unlike deer in Wisconsin, they stay tightly packed together and move as one when running. We’ve also seen lots of rabbits, birds and snake skins (but no snakes yet). The closed campground is accessible by trail. The water spigots have been turned off, but the convenient dumpsters remain. A sign indicates that the campground closed on September 15^th. I’ve not smelled any smoke here. The air is clear and clean.

That’s all the news at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area…

Wild Horse Canyon Road

I am camped in the mountains (7300’ elevation) overlooking Green River, a small town in southern Wyoming. The directions to this site were quite simple: drive on Wild Horse Canyon Road past the Hampton Inn and continue up the road beyond the pavement to the top of the hill. At first, I was worried that the road up the hill would be steep, but it was not. The gradual grade was bumpy but fairly easy. Once at the top, a dirt road cuts off to the right where there are several campsites within a half mile. At that point, the road becomes deeply rutted and plunges more steeply down.

I chose a big wide campsite that looks directly down on Interstate 80, Green River and the railroad tracks. Due to the distance, the road noise isn’t bad, and the sound of the trains was soothing to wake up to. The gravel road on top of the mountain goes about 30-some miles, and there are reportedly wild horses to be seen. I chose to remain at my campsite, to read, and to prepare a supper of scrambled eggs with fried tortillas, onion, and tomato.

As evening crept in, I could see a couple of small bumps on the horizon on top of the next crest. My binoculars confirmed that the bumps were actually two wild horses. Elvis and I set off on a walk along the road and were able to get close enough to the horses that we were both getting a little nervous. I think the horses are probably used to fending themselves from coyotes and wolves. Elvis must have seemed a strange-looking canine that they weren’t going to mess around with. The bigger horse started approaching us, stamping feet. We decided that we were close enough (although a better camera with zoom would have captured the moment), so we slowly backed away and then and then turned around back to the campsite. Both parties seemed satisfied with the conclusion.

Just before turning in, I noticed a large fire off in the distance, creating considerable smoke. I asked an older couple passing by on an ATV if they knew about it and whether it was anything to be concerned about. Yes, they said, it’s about a three-hour drive to that fire, and you can rest easy tonight. I would never have guessed that the fire was more than 100 miles away, but I did sleep well.

In the morning, temperatures had cooled off to the lower 40’s, and I could smell the fairly strong odor of smoke for the first time during my trip. By the time I finished breakfast and coffee, the odor was gone. Nevertheless, this stop will be a short one. We will continue south.

Thermopolis

Well, it was about that time.  I hadn’t had a real shower in about a week, aside from the dip in the lake.  Also, the waste tanks of the Brew Hut needed dumping, and the laundry needed doing.  I drove through Ten Sleep and Worland without finding any suitable place to do chores.  Finally, I remembered a full service rv park in Thermopolis that featured mineral baths. A little pricey at $45, but I had stayed for free several nights so I decided to splurge.

After taking care of chores, I went for a dip.  There’s hardly anyone around during the middle of the week, so I felt like it was my own private spa.

I expect to be back on the road after this overnight–headed towards Green River, Wyoming.

The Big Horns: Sitting Bull Campground

On my next-to-last day at Mikesell-Potts, I took a natural shower by jumping into the cold waters of the lake. There was only one other person in the water at the beach, and he was under ten-years-old and didn’t have the good sense to know how cold it was. But I did feel much better and cleaner afterwards.

In the morning, I prepared the Brew Hut for departure. Everything went great until it was time to hitch up. As I was turning the hand crank, I heard a funny metallic noise. When I looked down, I noticed that my jack handle was no longer secured by a nut to the bolt.

I looked everywhere in the gravel beneath the hitch and around the car and in about a ten foot circumference of the scene of the crime. The nut was nowhere to be found. I was able to continue raising the jack up by holding my hand to secure the bolt. Now, I have had trouble lining up the truck’s ball and the hitch last year, but I have had a really good stretch of no problems. Given my mechanical issues with the hitch handle, this was not an idea time for a new problem. I had no problems lining it up straight, but the hitch doesn’t fall into the ball unless it’s just right, and I was an inch or two off every time I got out to look. I tried ending in drive and reverse and blocking the truck wheels, but I kept missing it by eve so much, so that the hitch wouldn’t lock into place. Finally, I was able to get it in the right place.

Next up was a trip to Ace Hardware in Buffalo to find a new nut. I also picked up some other odds and ends: a small scissors, gorilla glue, AA batteries, and a few items for Elvis (flea/tick treatment, brush). Now 11 am., I could finally hit the road. I drove west on Hwy 16 up, and up, and up, until I reached Powder River Pass (elevation 9666). It was very windy and desolate here—above tree line with only small brush and alpine grasses.

After descending a few miles, I came to our destination: Sitting Bull Campground, which was still over 8000 feet but lush with fragrance from tall pine trees and sheltered from the wind. When I went to the pay station for the campground fee, the host told me that the campground was closing the next day, and that my site would be free. Although the campground would be closed, water shut off, and bathrooms locked, he said that I could stay as long as I wanted through hunting season. Free is my kind of price!

About a dozen other campers were in the campground, but I chose a spacious, quiet site at the end of the loop. There is enough sunlight through the trees that my Brew Hut battery is getting filled each day, although with no cell service I’m not using my devices for much. There are ATV trails (without any ATV’s present-the best kind), that Elvis and I have been hiking each day. The gravel road in from Hwy 16 has a beautiful stream running along its side, and on the other side of Hwy 16 (about a mile hike) is North Cove, a beautiful small lake and day use area.

The nights are cold and clear with temperatures dropping into the mid to high 30’s. The days warm up into the low 70’s. We are settling into a nice routine of long walks and hours spent reading my Kindle. I’m on the last book of Game of Thrones and will be finishing it in no time. I’ve been wanting to get back into the Big Horns ever since my son Justin and I drove through a couple of years ago. This is such a beautiful part of the country, although summers are quite short. I can’t say that these mountains feel like a place I could ever live, but the Big Horns are very special to me. Life is good.

Mikesell-Potts Recreatiion Area

On the evening of my stay at Devil’s campground, the Scamp reached temperatures of 96 F., before dropping into the 50’s during the night. I went from sweating in my underwear to retrieving the heavy sleeping bag and crawling under its warmth.

I was up early at Elvis’ request (food and walk), so we took advantage of the empty road at 6 a.m., and hiked out to the admission booth and beyond to the KOA, where campers were packed in like sardines but presumably enjoying their full electrical hookups (air conditioning). After hiking back, I ate a quick breakfast and made coffee for the road. Because I never unhitched the Scamp at Devil’s Tower, departure was a matter of pulling up the rear stabilizers, preparing the inside of the Scamp for the shaking and vibration that occurs in a day of travel, and plugging in the tow wires.

Elvis and I drove out to Interstate 90 and then on to Buffalo, Wyoming, where we took the exit for the Mikesell-Potts Recreation Area, a county park located on a big lake. Two separate campground loops include spaces on the lake, tucked into the trees or up on top of a big hill (which is the one that I chose.

The camp host told me that the campground gets very busy in the summer, but once school starts, it’s easy to find a space—first come, first serve. I had my pick of over 100 spots, and I think that I chose wisely. There is no water here. About ten sites have electric ($15), but those sites are close together and without the prime views. The rest of the sites have no amenities other than vault toilets and garbage dumpsters. I think it’s quite a bargain. Elvis and I have been taking lots of walks along the various campground roads and a grass path connecting the two loops.

T-mobile doesn’t live here. I had reasonably fast ATT roaming until T-mobile sent a text that my limited roaming plan was exhausted. We are at 4600 feet, have the lake on one side and the Big Horn Mountains off to the distance in the other side. Temperatures have been pleasant during the day and cool off into the 40’s and 50’s at night . On the coolest night, I closed up the windows, except for a crack, and slept comfortably under the sleeping bag. Our brews of choice have been Brazilian manual drip in the morning and Hot Streak IPA in the evening by Black Tooth Brewing out of Sheridan, Wyoming.

On my second night, I was awakened after dark by a party setting up camp at the campsite next door. And I do mean a party. There were 3-4 pick-up trucks and a couple of cars full of young folk, drinking cheap, making lots of noise, and depositing cans, trash and uprooting a small tree, presumably to burn for firewood. They left in a thunder of gravel/dust at about 2:25 a.m., doing a U-turn at my site. When I got up early the next morning, I found a soiled towel next to my truck.

Life is too short. I picked up camp and moved across the lake, where I found a nice spot next to the beach for my last night.

I spent three nights here and would stay here again, especially during the off season. The party crew? Well, that’s just luck of the draw. Hopefully, I won’t encounter that again soon. From here, we are headed for the Big Horns.