Rising above the dry desert-like plains of eastern Wyoming, Vedauwoo's (pronounced Vee-dah-voo) oddly shaped rock formations, higher elevations, scattered trees, and the flowing water in it's creeks, offer a welcome rest from the hot plains.
The rock is granite and the sandy soil grows very good grass. Part of the Medicine Bow / Rout National Forest, Vedauwoo is on the southernmost flank of some low rounded uplands called Pole Mountain though hardly mountainous. In all the little patch of forest is maybe ten by fifteen miles.
Below the squiggly for the camping with the kids story.
Under pressure from my daughter I was on a mission to take the kids "camping". Drive up, sleep, drive home. No big production. I called an old climbing buddy, now a down and out human rights lawyer who does legal translation from Spanish by the hour.
The main entrance was five dollars for a day pass. Campground was typical pull outs and vault toilets by the Forest Service, all very tidy with signs and hard surface road. Good for the RV set.
Back out down the road a few yards we passed the climbers parking lot with forty or so cars and no fees, all dirt. On down the road were lots of people taking advantage of the free "dispersed" camping. We continued looking to get past the crowds and ended up before long heading out the other side of that particular patch of forest and onto another hard surface highway. Up the highway a couple miles we took another numbered forest service road with almost no people camping.
We parked by some school bus sized rounded boulders with a view and an old fire pit.
I notice grass, and the grass at Vedauwoo was good, only problem was it had all been eaten to the quick. Cows. Grazing allotment no doubt. Not recently, maybe in early August.
We headed over to a draw wandering around. My little girl piped up "Daddy, what's this?" Cow patty. Kids can recognise moose, elk, deer, yote, and bear scat but are unfamiliar with cows. Gotta love it.
I hadn't packed any food, from the bottom of my food box I found Thai ramen enough for all and cooked it. Then I cooked elbow macaroni from a macaroni and cheese box that was missing the cheese. I had lots of butter in the cooler which made the macaroni slide down easily. Also we had a horrible package of pre cooked rice, some kind of foil pouch. A gift from someone.
Some people drove by. Two dirt bikers then three ATVers. No off road driving allowed. Then a couple pickups. One of the pickups came back. A young bow hunter looking to shoot the shit. Gosh knows why, we wear no camo, my truck has no stickers or anything, just an old beater pickup and some old dudes and kids.
According to the bow hunter the unit is over subscribed. A couple years ago there was an effort to reduce populations in response to complaints from the ranchers. Fine elk country, open but with some trees for cover, plenty of water in tiny creeks and water holes. Good grass. But then there are the cows. I guess if I were a rancher I'd think good summer range for cattle. Moose, bear, antelope, cats, deer, little bit of everything. No griz, no wuffs.
Over on the next hill we heard someone shooting an AR. Looking at him with binoculars showed a couple shooting in the other direction. After the dew settled down we started a small fire and looked at the stars. Kids toasted marshmallows.
The next day the kids went bouldering close to our campsite. Under the far side of one of the boulders was a bear's den in current use. Hope we didn't disturb the thing.