Vedauwoo
On Saturday afternoon (May 29th), all of the REU students and three of the advisors drove out to the Vedauwoo campgrounds just outside of Laramie, WY. Vedauwoo is a large rocky outskirt of Laramie, with a slightly higher elevation (around 8,000 feet).
Rocks!
We didn’t have proper climbing equipment, so we only hiked the Turtle Rock trail. The whole trail only took about two to three hours to complete and afterward we barbequed hot dogs on one of the public grills.
The trail was nice, very easy and scenic (parts of it still had snow). We didn’t see much wildlife besides birds and chipmunks. Apparently mountain lions and moose inhabit the area. I’ve seen many moose while living in Northern Maine for my last two years of high school, but never a mountain lion. I was told if I see one, its best to intimidate it, and they are easy to scare away. Unfortunately we never saw one, but many of the other hiking areas and mountains we will be visiting have them.
More rocks!
At dinner, there was a very trusting chipmunk that wandered into our gazebo and would eat the trail mix we dropped. We named him Happy Cheeks.
Our friend, Happy Cheeks.
