Vedauwoo (pronounced vee-da-voo), is located in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and known to the Arapaho Indians as “Land of the Earthborn Spirit".
This area is conveniently located off Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie (exit 329) and was about a two hour drive from Denver.
The first portion of the route is downhill, which made for fun, fast riding right off the bat.
All along Vedauwoo Glen Rd. there are lots of beautiful and unique rock formations to marvel at as well as abundant wild flowers when we were there in early July. We constantly wanted to stop and take pictures, so don't forget your camera!
There was almost no car traffic on a weekday morning on the large majority of the gravel roads (Vedauwoo Glen Rd. and North Crow Road).
The small paved section on Happy Jack Road, which gets you from the Vedauwoo area to Curt Gowdy, has steady and fast moving traffic. There is a large shoulder but the speed limit is 65 which always feels a little uncomfortable after coming from dirt roads.
The terrain is generally quite nice but there were a few sections of unavoidable washboards and there are some short but steep pitches (10-12%) you have to grind up.
We had planned a lollipop route that we had found on Ride with GPS, but when we were actually on the route we discovered one of the roads had a big old gate and a no trespassing sign on it. (It is one of the reasons we started this site! We find that pulling routes from Strava or Ride with GPX often gives you some surprises in regards to private property as well as the conditions of the terrain.)
Do this ride if you are camping at Vedauwoo or Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming and want a gravel route to give you the lay of the land where you'll see lakes and unique rock formations with lots of options for further explorations and add-ons.
We parked in the overflow parking lot for the Vedauwoo Campground and there is no bathroom here, but just a tiny bit further up the road on the route there is another parking lot called the Nautilus parking lot, and there are vault toilets here. Both are within the State Park so it is $7.00 to park for the day (or display a Wyoming State Park Pass).
The day pass will cover your fees for entering the parks as well.
There is no water or other bathrooms on the route except within the Curt Gowdy State Park. We saw a little food stand near the Tumbleweeds Campground, down by the water where they also had equipment rentals.
There are plenty of mountain biking trails within Curt Gowdy, but only a limited amount are marked as "easy" or "easy/intermediate", and therefore suitable for gravel bikes. We'd love to go back check out those!!
In addition to the camping sites at Vedauwoo and Curt Gowdy, there are many great dispersed camping sites along Vedauwoo Glen Rd.
There is no swimming in the more remote Upper North Crow Reservoir. (The water is used as a source for surrounding communities.) Bummer- it sure does look inviting!
Laura & Rose
Laura Karpinski and Rose Barcklow are the creators of Gravel Bike Adventures. Click on the About page to learn more about them.
