Windy wyoming
I was warned that Wyoming would be windy. Did I take that warning seriously? Hell no. I mean, I’ve spent time in LaVeta (where standing up straight is sometimes impossible) and New Mexico in the spring (same), and on lots of mountaintops where Sunday’s ears make her look like a flying nun.
But Wyoming was so damned windy that it kept me from mountain biking. That should put it in perspective for y’all.
A friend from Ouray came to visit, so we spent the Wizard of Oz days doing touristy stuff around Laramie and Cheyenne.
The giant Abe Lincoln memorial off HWY 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne. Why?
The Ames Monument - built to settle a fight over which railroad guy was richer.
We also went to the Anthropology Museum at the University of Wyoming and the Women’s Museum in downtown Laramie. Did you know that Wyoming was the first place to grant suffrage equally to ALL citizens? In 1869!!! Before Wyoming was even a state. Wyoming. Who knew?
Luckily, the wind died down enough to get the paddleboard and pack raft out for some tooling around the water. We were camped at Curt Gowdy State Park, which was right on a ginormous reservoir. When the wind picked up, we just went out for long hikes on the park trails.
Good dog.
Despite the weather, we did get two rides in. I don’t know if it was the 8K’ elevation, or all the damned hills, but I honestly thought I was going to die more than once.
Don’t let the smile fool you. I was already filling out my will by this point.
After the reservation at the state park ended, my friend went back to Colorado and I moved to one of the most beautiful dispersed sites I’ve ever seen. There were so many sites in the area that I couldn’t see any neighbors. There were miles of trails and roads to walk the girls on, and the sunrise was AMAZING.
Dispersed camping is the best camping.
Wyoming sunrise from my camp.
One of the hikes we did was near the Vedauwoo climbing area. The climbing here looked amazing, but I didn’t have a partner, so I had to settle for scrambling around the rocks while the girls chased chipmunks.
Another highlight of Wyoming was meeting up with fellow mountain biking nomad Nanna. She’s made an appearance in the blog before - we first met in Sedona, rode together in Bentonville, and as luck would have it, we were in Wyoming at the same time. We met for beers in Cheyenne before she headed west to train up for a Rainier ascent at the end of July.
Border collies, beers, and biking babes.
Southern Wyoming was cool. There’s definitely a LOT more to explore. Maybe I’ll visit again when it isn’t so damned windy.