Vedauwoo Recreation Area - Turtle Rock Trail

It's been about a month since our last posting, but that is because July has been a busy busy month. Our son got married early in July and then we spent 10 days in Wyoming & Colorado with our daughter and son-in-law.  We have much to post, so this is just the first of many about our recent adventures......

While in Laramie, Wyoming, we were treated to a guided hike along the Turtle Rock trail in the Vedauwoo (ve-duh-voo) Recreation Area, which is part of the Medicine Bow National Forest.  Joe, who is a co-worker of our daughter, was our guide and does runs on this trail and many other trails in the area, so we had no fear of getting lost. Joe also spent time telling us about the history and background of the area as we hiked.  THANKS JOE!!!

Our trail guide Joe, daughter Maggie and son-in-law Craig (L to R)

The Vedauwoo area is known for it many strange and yet beautiful rock formations.  They almost seem to pop up from nowhere. Once we started hiking, it didn't take long for us to reach some rock formations including one that is popular with local rock climbers.

The Rock Climbers favorite wall.

It is hard to describe each and every rock formation we saw, so here are a few of the pictures from the trail and I will let their uniqueness and beauty do the talking.

The Turtle Rock trail was so full of diversity- it was awesome!  We went from rock formations to areas dense with aspen trees and even came across a pond area complete with a beaver hut.

One of the Aspen tree areas with wildflowers mixed in.

A beaver pond surprised us part way through the hike

Throughout our hike, wildflowers were in amazing abundance.  Joe told us that this was part of Laramie's monsoon season and with late snowfall and recent rains, there were flowers when normally they would be gone.  Lucky for us!  Once again, words don't do justice so I have included some pictures of those flowers below for your viewing pleasure.

One of my favorite portions of this trail (shown below) was a short uphill stretch entirely of rock.

Evidently our daughter has now mutated from 4 to 8 arms??
(see our Pacifica Gardens & Waters Creek posting in March)

If there was ever a short trail that delivered amazing beauty & diversity, this was it!!. It was also a great way to start our hiking adventures in Wyoming and left me wondering what more could we hike and see?

If you are ever in or near Laramie, make a point to stop and visit Vedauwoo so you can experience and see firsthand the amazing beauty of this area.  If you need a hiking guide, just ask for Joe.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol