Monday, September 17, 2012

Curt Gowdy State Park

Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming is 2 hours from our house in Denver. So after a summer of intense heat and forest fires that kept us from using the RV we decided to venture forth this fall as the temperatures cooled down. What a cool place! I can't believe I didn't know about it sooner. Almost all the sites are on the two reservoirs. We chose Crystal Reservoir for our first night.


The pups wait for us to get level.

We want to go hiking!

Behind our site things are a bit bare. But were off the main road a bit and get some shade during the day so we are happy.


There was a boat launch near our site. The reservoirs are popular for boating and fishing.


Our first hike is to explore around the reservoir.


We hike up to the dam and then part way on one of the trails. However we didn't bring flashlights so have to head back as the sun sets. The reservoir was excellent for star gazing at night because the city light of Cheyenne and Laramie were far away.


The next day we go around the reservoir. I estimated it would be between 5 and 6 miles. We brought 4 bottles of water. Unfortunately we weren't paying much attention and the water we bought was in much smaller bottles than normal.


This is on a trail with many ups and downs. It is designated as an expert level mountain biking trail. However we saw no one on it at all. I do not think it would be popular with mountain bikers because of all the places you would have to carry your bike. However it is an excellent hiking trail if you don't mind alot of ups and downs.

This is the view of the dam access road. You can see we've hiked quite a long way behind the dam. We've also just crossed the access road at the bottom where the river used to run before it was dammed.


This is the view of the back of the dam that we saw the day before from the front. Were now back up higher again.


At the end of the hike you spend some time going round some finger offshoots to the reservoir. It is at this point you wish for a bridge.


Unfortunately we got a late start on our hike so were hiking from 9 until noon. Even though it was cool out the sun was too intense and I got a head ache. Because I couldn't shake it we came back home and will have to try this reservoir out again on another day.