Daytrip Vedauwoo, Wyoming- Hiking the Turtle Rock Trail in the Medicine Bow National Forest

On Saturday Jim and I took a little day trip to the "Land of the Earthborn Spirit", otherwise known as Vedauwoo, Wyoming. It is an area of fantastic granite rock formations located in the Laramie Range on the Medicine Bow National Forest in southeast Wyoming. This is a popular area for climbing, bouldering, hiking, biking, picnicking, and camping.  It is about a 2 hour drive from our home in Erie, Colorado.  After 1 hour of driving we crossed the state line into Wyoming and I am very proud of the fact that I was able to capture the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign on camera. During our epic move to Colorado from Florida I attempted to take photos of each state's welcome sign that we entered. I was always too slow with the camera or would completely miss the shot. It sort of became a joke between us. I did, however, manage to capture the "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign on that trip and that was the most important one to me! On our recent drive to New Mexico I missed the welcome sign when we crossed the border and I got teased by my loving husband all over again. So this time when I snapped the shot and I saw that trademark bucking horse and rider on my screen I was so happy to show Jim!

Welcome to Wyoming sign

Of course, he still poked fun at me for not getting a better photo considering the amount of time I had to take it. I can't win! :) It was a fun drive through beautiful open spaces. Other highlights included seeing a big buffalo sculpture on a bluff next to I-25 and a large turbine wind farm.

Buffalo sculpture

I thought the wind turbines were really pretty

Getting to Vedauwoo was easy...getting to the Turtle Rock Trailhead was not as easy. We were a little confused from the start. We pulled into the recreation area and saw the main entrance station into the campground. 

There wasn't anybody there to talk to and we were unsure if we needed to head into the campground or not, as the directions we were using mentioned following a service road to get to the trailhead. We drove around on some bumpy dirt roads for about 15 minutes and realized we should probably just head back to the main entrance station and read the posted signs and maps a little more carefully. Sure enough, on the sign it showed that the Turtle Rock Trail was indeed inside the campground. Reading is a good thing! :) We saw we needed to pay a $5 entrance fee. Luckily, I actually had some cash on me, which is rare. They had envelopes to put the payment in with detachable parking permits that we just had to fill out with basic information. Wouldn't you know I could not find a single pen in my car to use ! Fortunately, a car pulled up and a nice couple let us borrow their pen. What a start!

We made our way to the trailhead parking lot and again were not seeing clear signs for where the trail actually started. There were multiple Turtle Creek Trail signs and they were crowded by underbrush and aspens.

We followed the first sign and it led us to the upper Turtle Creek Trail parking lot. We headed back down to where we parked, which was apparently the lower Turtle Creek Trail parking lot and
eventually found our way. Yay! We passed through a small metal gate and entered a beautiful mature aspen grove. It was like walking through a storybook setting. I love watching the aspen tree leaves flutter in the breeze.  It almost looks like the leaves are waving to you as you walk by them.

  
The aspens started to thin out and then we were surrounded by giant boulders and truly unique rock formations. The granite rock formations that are the main attraction are 1.4 billion years old. We climbed around on some of the rocks and took some pictures. We saw one that I had read online was called the tea kettle formation because of it's shape. I do wish there were signs along the trail that explained the geology of the area or the names of the different formations though. It's always nice to know what you are looking at.

Tea Kettle Formation

The trail was beautiful. The surroundings changed as we hiked from dense brush to cathedral like pine groves to small ponds, and to open barrens. The large granite rocks always loomed above us and we were surrounded by house-sized boulders.

Ponderosa Pine Forest- smells amazing!

Giant boulders everywhere!

Pretty stream and rock waterfall

We saw pretty butterflies and wildflowers of every color. 

Richardson's (White) Geranium

Blanket Flowers

Tufted Fleabane

Indian Paintbrush- Wyoming's state flower

Fireweed

Bluebell Bellflower

Woods' (Wild) Rose

One of my favorite parts of the trail was toward the end when we entered another aspen grove. The path narrowed and we were surrounded by tall, happy, yellow sunflowers. They looked like something out of Alice and Wonderland. I kept expecting them to start singing to me! :)

Fivenerve Helianthella (nodding sunflower)

 

It was right after we passed through this grove that we realized we may have been a little lost. I knew the trail was supposed to be a 3.2 mile loop from what I read. It felt like we had hiked further than that so I looked at my pedometer and saw we were right at the 3.2 mile mark. However, we were not back where we started. We hiked a short distance further and started seeing Turtle Rock Trail signs again, but they led to different parking lots. I could tell Jim was getting frustrated as he never likes to lose his sense of direction. It really was confusing though and I still don't know where we went wrong exactly. We ended up leaving the trail and just following the road another half mile back to our car. Jim was relieved to see the car! It certainly was an adventure and a very scenic hike. I just wish it wasn't so hard to keep track of the trail.

Following the road after we got turned around on the trail

We didn't eat the granola bars we brought with us so we decided to stop in Cheyenne on the way home for lunch. I looked up restaurants in Cheyenne on my phone on the drive back and was so happy when Culver's popped up in the search results. I used to go to Culver's all the time when I lived in Illinois, but we did not have one in Florida so it had been quite awhile since I had even thought of a butter burger! I could see Jim's face brightening up as well. I ordered a butter burger with a side of Wisconsin cheese curds and a large root beer and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was not the healthiest lunch, but after 4 miles of hiking in the sun it sure tasted good! :)

 

Even though I think this trail could be marked better, it was still a very rewarding hike. The rock formations are so unusual- unlike anything I have ever seen! I loved the constant change of scenery. I would love to camp here or come back in the fall and walk through the golden aspen groves!