Vedauwoo Rocks in the Medicine Bow National Forest

Today is Labor Day, and we wanted to have an adventure before our wine-and-cheese jazz festival. Kathy found recommendations for the Turtle Rock Trail at Vedauwoo (VAY-dah-voo) Rocks in the Medicine Bow National Forest, west of Cheyenne in the Laramie Mountains in Wyoming.

Vedauywoo Rocks is an area of outcrops of 1.4 billion year old pink Sherman Granite. It is a popular climbing area.  These rocks represent some of the oldest rock in Wyoming, exposed at the surface due to the uplift of the Laramie Mountains that began around 70 million years ago. The higher concentration of feldspar gives the rocks a pinkish tint. They are grouped together in large granite towers formed by stacks of huge rectangular blocks that have then been rounded by windblown sand. Younger layers of rock and sediment have progressively eroded, and this continues today. The hard granite of Vedauwoo is made of large crystals of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, and some mica and is more erosion-resistant, resulting in wind and water-sculpted forms. Wildlife abounds in and around Vedauwoo with Wyoming ground squirrels, mule deer, elk, moose, yellow-bellied marmots, least chipmunks, pronghorn, wild turkeys, badgers, prairie dogs, coyotes, and mountain lions all calling the area home. Beavers are found in some of the creeks, where their dams and lodges form cover for a variety of aquatic insects, frogs, and fish. Golden and bald eagles can be seen soaring on the thermals alongside hawks, crows, ravens, turkey vultures, and numerous songbirds. Anglers find brook trout in the streams and ponds.

The Turtle Rocks Trail is a 3-mile loop around the rocks.  At various places along the loop trail, other trails or woods roads branch out like spokes and tempt you to explore them further out into alpine valleys or up into huge boulder fields leading to the rocks above.

This was our introduction to the rocks:

As we hiked around, we saw endless numbers of uniquely shaped pink granite boulders strewn about the landscape:

Some boulders were larger than others:

Here, David stands in front of some of the boulders for scale:

Looking out from the formation, we saw valley after valley, with granite cliffs beckoning us to explore:

Closer to the trail, we found little clusters of rocks looking like flowers in a rock garden:

The shapes of the boulders never failed to surprise and please us:

It is early September, and already the aspen are starting to turn yellow.  These yellow plants are very young aspen, which seem to be yellowing the earliest:

Each rock formation - near or far, big or small - seemed to be different from the last:

The trail itself wound through fir and aspen woods:

Here is a view of Turtle Rocks, which are popular with rock and mountain climbers:

On the western side of the rocks, a series of maybe 8 or 9 small ponds have been formed by beaver dams, and moose are said to frequent the area.  Here is a photo of one of several beaver lodges we saw on the ponds:

Some climbers had made it to the top of their particular, favorite climb and were enjoying the view. Kathy yelled for them to wave and they obliged our camera:

Some of the rocks seemed to defy gravity, they were so delicately balanced:

Down on the trail, the birch and aspen were magnificent.  Kathy fell on a welcoming rock, she was so overcome with the beauty of the trees:



In some sections, all the rocks and trees harmonized into one melodious vision:

With all of our side-trail explorations, we finally hiked more than 4 miles.  We endured a rain shower and came out the other end, found the truck and headed home for an afternoon wine-and-jazz celebration of the holiday.

Happy Labor Day, all!