Much has been made about the so-called camp-cation or stay-cation in today's economy. I had a nice experience recently at Vedauwoo which is located approximate 25 miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming over Labor Day weekend and I wanted to share some photos and humor with you.
I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge back country camper. My significant other has exposed me to many activities that have nearly killed me, but have also been educational and have brought back to me a spirit of my childhood when we would camp out in the woods near our farm on the weekends.
Back then, it was to get away from our parents and chores. I suspect our parents has similar reasons for allowing us to go, albeit from their perspective. Whatever the case, it was fun to take an axe into the wood and cut down trees of a suitable size to construct shelter that might hold out sunlight, but not much else. Those were the good old days, but eventually, we grow up and find pressures more demanding than our parents.
Vedauwoo is located in a national forest. The gravel roads are generally well kept up and there are turn outs all over the place for mountain/dirt bikers along with people on horseback and hikers and campers.
Armed with a new puppy (A brindle Boxer named Sierra), we drove through the main areas, turning off to find various secluded spots to pitch our camp gear. Car camping is significantly easier that some of the backcountry camping we have done earlier in the year. Everything you need, goes in the back of the truck and you only have to carry it a few dozen yards. we found our ideal site about 2/3rds of the way through the main area. The area was covered with boulders of varying size that were easily weathered. Comprised of Sherman Granite, they are really remnants of the Rocky Mountain Ignious formations that weathered into the great inland sea. Held together much like sandstone, the rock crumbles rather easily and a close examination reveals the rose and milky quartz crystals intermixed with the smaller crystals of Pyrite or Fool's Gold. The fairly constant winds weather the rocks in ways that exacerbate the striation from how the formation was laid under water and the result is a kind of sculpture museum.
The first thing we did when we arrived was to survey the area. There were large rock formations that channeled the wind through the area, but also provided ample protection on the leeward sides. It was in one of these protected areas that we pitched our two-man Cabela's XPG ultralight tent. In less than 5 minutes, we had it up and staked in. Feeling no particular sense of hurry, we brought out of collapsible chairs and a few suitably appropriate beverages and faced ourselves to the westward sun.
Our sense of urgency as increased a little when we noticed that a thunderstorm was getting close to skirting our campsite. The weather had said that there would be a small chance and we knew that we would be ok, even in a heavy downpour as we had experienced one at McConaughey the previous spring. I fired up the Weber Smokey Joe charcoal grill with the matchlight instant light briquettes.
15 minutes later, I threw a couple hotdogs and hamburgers on the red coals and the sizzle of the grease began to waft up into the air. Mixed with the smell of fresh rain coming the odor was intoxicating reminiscent of my childhood and those late summer backyard cookouts used to do.
We were fortunate to get a hotdog off the grill before the rain came in earnest. Wiener-stuffed bun in hand, Boxer Pup in the other, we made our way to the truck and listened to satellite reggae while the brief shower drenched the ground and passed on by. After the shower past through a double rainbow greeted us, made more brilliant by the rain's dust reduction powers. It was a beautiful site to see.
Sierra is primarily an indoor puppy as I do not have the requisite fence to ensure her safety at home, nor the neighbor's ability to resist being licked to death. At Vedauwoo, she did not need the confines of security to hold her in. Running around and happy with her new found freedom, she rarely went far enough to be of concern and always came when she heard her mom and dad call to her... Come Sierra... She made her friends with a new hole and the roots that were exposed and found her cardboard box to play in. No leash was necessary at all.
Around 7 PM we decided to forage for wood for a fire and to take a walk. Primarily a rocky grassland, the taller boulder formations made natural windbreaks and resourceful campers past had left ample collections of dry wood for the taking. Better to use what was already down and we loaded up a couple armloads and proceeded to walk the 500 yards back to our site.
We utilized one of the Firestarter sticks we brought, I constructed a stack of small wood and a couple pieces of larger logs that formed an "A" shape within minutes, the dry kindling created an inviting space for the fire to breath. It reached upward, begging to consume the logs who succumbed to the fire's reach and added to its warmth and beauty.
One of the best things about the area, is found after the daylight passes and the din of motorbike noises settle down. Campfires indicated the sparse campers in the area and the clearing sky gives a breathtaking view of the stars. A nearly full moon provides amble light to navigate around in safety so we don't really need to use or headlamps. The altitude, rain and long day have given way to a comfortable sense of tired. Not the kind of exhaustion one finds from performing some mentally challenging or back breaking task, but a pleasant feeling of relaxation and an inner piece that a full belly and clear mind gives.
We turn in around 9 O'clock with our fire burned down sufficiently for safety and a slight drizzle moving in. Over the course of the next several hours, the sky would become completely devoid of clouds and the nightlife would begin to stir. I had been told that cayotes and moose could sometimes be seen in the area. With a small puppy that was nervous when you clapped your hands, I was apprehensive at what would happen if we were to encounter a bull moose or a mother with a calf. Tired takes me over...
About 3:45 am, we are awakened by a sound that seems like a moose. It is off in the distance aways, but one gets the sensation from subsequent sounds that it is moving in our general direction. My heartbeat beings to thump pretty hard when we hear a snort about 20 feet outside the tent wall. Sierra is startled and visibly afraid and this unknown noise. Kathy and I discuss what it could be while the wind blows the tied back tent flaps in a cascade of, "look over here... we are here...." notifications to all who were stirring.
Not having been around any wild animals in a camping situation, I am also nervous. Kathy has been faced with Mountain lions before and had one encounter with a moose, and she is also nervous. The feeling is understandable. If the dog should suddenly get spooked and the animal charges us, we would have no chance to escape the confines of our nylon prison. We keep still and whisper in tones that the wind would continue to drown out. We are upwind of the invader and I am sure that it can smell the trepidation wafting out of our tent like the hamburgers we smelled only hours earlier. Kathy peers out the tent in the direction of the sounds that were causing elevated pulse rates and heavy, but quite breathing.
"It's a cow" she says to me.
"What does that mean?" I replied.
"There is nothing to worry about, It is just a cow," she restates with more confidence.
"That doesn't mean anything to me... what will a cow moose do?"
"It is a Moo-Cow, not a moose cow. Its not going to hurt us." she answered.
A ton of adrenaline suddenly dropped out of my system and I peered out of the tent flap. Staring me down was a 1600 or so pound black Angus cow. She was staring at the tent, because the flaps were getting her attention in the wind. We played this game of silent chicken for about 5 minutes. Bessy finally got bored and trundled off out of site. No longer fearing being trampled, we settled back in for the rest of the night.
The next day, we got up and had a hearty breakfast of Bacon, eggs and re-fried baked-potato in a tortilla wrap. Fully sated, we broke camp and decided to explore the rest of the area. Near the Interstate entrance, we found a large protrusion of boulders. We turned in and decided to walk around the area and take some pictures. It was stunning to see how the wind had worked over millions of years to breakdown the stone in sculpture-esque ways, rounding them off and creating pillars as monuments to the stars and sun.
The good thing about this trip is that we paid no lodging fees and frankly, other than the cost of food and gas, we spent the least amount of money on that get-away than any other trip we had made this year. The episodes of rain and the stars and the interaction with domesticated livestock aside, the trip provided a excellent opportunity to rest and not think about the normal problems of work, or the lack thereof. I would recommend that everyone who wants to stretch a travel dime to try this place. It will definitely make its way back into my travel plans.
No comments:
Post a Comment