Forest Service Road 700 Designated Dispersed Camping

Personally, I find having easier access to the facilities of the main campground worth $10 per night if you can find a spot. These dispersed campsites are a good free option if you can't find one though. Make sure that you camp at one of the designated spots, it is not a pick-you-spot-anywhere kind of experience: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE\_DOCUMENTS/fseprd581855.pdf

  

Sites 1-4 are found shortly after the Nautilus parking lot, where you can find a single bathroom. These spots are also the closest to the trails that take you to the rock climbing routes.

Good option if main campground is full

Places to explore galore! You can climb, mountain bike. hike, fish, and ATV in some areas.

All of the free dispersed camping sites are along Vedauwoo Road that leads to Happy Jack Road from I-80\. The exit to Vedauwoo State Park is right off I-80 and only 17 miles west of Laramie WY. The Vedauwoo Road itself was a bit wash-boarded, but freshly laid with crushed granite. There are a few spur roads that allow camping. The map in the attached photo shows the area pretty well. There are no amenities here. A rock fire ring and a numbered post will show you where camping is permitted. The camp areas are spaced very far apart. You are near the road, but no other campers. You need to pack out everything you bring in. I had a very nice time here. The next evening I did go into the established campground. Please see my ranger review for Vedauwoo Campground. (includes a review of the ICEMULE cooler seen in some photos!)

Activities in the area include: mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, horseback riding, ATV's, and fishing. Nearby, continue on Vedauwoo Road until it meets Happy Jack (paved) take a right and you will encounter Curt Gowdy State park where you can rent paddling equipment or boat and tour 2 of the lakes in the State Park. It is beautiful there and they do have a couple campgrounds on the waterfront.

Free and Fun!

Great spot. Clean. Plenty of spots. Right off the high. Right next to the state park so their amenities are available to use. Road is a little rough driving in. Beautiful views of the rock formations. 

Great Dispersed Camping 

Easy in &amp; out but has become busier in last few years. Still nice quick getaway to some easy hiking. 

Easy access to dispersed campsites 

I have camped in this general area for over 40 years. I like to go mid-week in the fall, you pretty much have the area to yourself and have your choice of campsites.

Dispersed camping in Wyoming

Stayed 7/14/20 - FREE

  

I took the road 700E down to site E2

  

Once you pass the main campground and it turns to gravel, it is terribly bumpy. Like a million speed bumps. The side roads have bigger potholes, but are more smooth.‘E’ was pretty easy to navigate, even in a sedan. The map makes my site seem super close to others, but it was totally private. I could see and at times, hear others, but I definitely had my own area. Great views and very close to the highway. Would love to come back here!

  

No facilities. I had 3 bars LTE AT&amp;T, with no problems.

Beautiful views, close to highway!

campground at vedauwoo was full, so we ventured down the road, found a free spot that looked like an established spot, but i realize now it was not official - no number. but we pulled off, saw a few established fire rings, so we stopped for the night, popped the top on the van. 

scenic is an understatement. loved this area, with gorgeous rock formations, pines, big sky! dusty due to traffic, and had to keep the van level for sleep/propane so we did park near the road. worth it.


highlight of my x-country trip

Me and a buddy camped here one night on our way to Yellowstone. Only a little over an hour from Fort Collins Colorado and boy were we impressed with this place. Beautiful hills and rocks for good wind blockage and plenty of trees for great cozy scenery. Definitely one of our most favorite Wyoming spots from the trip.

Really awesome scenery for southern Wyoming 

These sites are very beautiful and are very well spaced.  Road past the established campground is VERY rough with a camper in tow.  Hard to find the designated sites in the dark so arrive before nightfall.  This area is clearly open to grazing and cattle come through and there are some cow pies, but no big deal. 

Only stayed one night.  Wish we could have stayed longer.  Some people clearly are regulars and it’s easy to see why.  Looks like a good bouldering and rock climbing destination.  

Some sites are closer to Happy Jack Road, which is a beautiful scenic backroad between Laramie and Cheyenne.  

Picturesque Primitive Pleasant Place

This place is unreal! Designated Dispersed camping at its best. We camped near the Devil’s Playground rocks and even though most of the better sites were full, we found quite a few open sites on a Saturday. Can’t do that in Colorado anymore! The wind picked up at night and we sure were thankful to NOT be in tents. The Rocks are awesome for scrambling and even the dog had a blast!

Vedauwoo Dispersed Camping is Amazing!

Found an amazing spot on a Monday with no hassle. Some of the spots require 4 wheel drive, but not all! 

Amazing!

Gorgeous rock structures cover the landscape. Makes for varied hiking. Plenty of camping options. 

Balancing act

There's a ton of camping options out this road - free but must be in marked sites. Good access to trails and climbing, some trees nearby and lots of cool rock formations. 

No toilets or running water, dirt roads to access were in very good condition. Some four wheelers driving laps were a little annoying, but it wasn't a bad place to stay a few nights.

Convenient for dispersed camping

Camped by a big rock site back 

the dirt road not so busy with fields after fields with rock to climb creek down the mountain to dip your feet in hot days cold nights 


Beautiful rock site

Came upon Vedauwoo while road tripping from Denver, CO to Yellowstone National Park.  Free dispersed camping with easy dirt road access for any size RV.

No worries about RV size.  All camp sites located on roads which loop back to main road.  So no need to stress about dead ending and attempting a turn around.

Must camp in designated areas.  

Even if you don’t plan to spend the night, it is well worth the beauty to pull off and relax or picnic for the afternoon.

I’ve been everywhere and this place was BREATHTAKING!  Rock formations like I have never seen.  I can see why those mountains are steeped in Native legend of spiritual inhabitants.

Spots fill up fast in the summer months.  Trails, rock climbing, fishing, horseback riding and wildlife.  Sites are first come first serve.

But no running water, restroom or hook ups.

Tent or RV spots.

Large RV Friendly and Beautiful 

Great place close to interstate 80. Which is also the only thing that is a little bothersome for some, the interstate background noise. Otherwise an awesome dispersed campground with tons of bouldering climbing options if that’s what you like. Would come again!

Great for an overnight and for climbers

This campsite is definitely dispersed, in the best way. A secluded oasis not too far off the path. We ended up taking one of the last campsites and it ended up being amongst a HUGE herd of grazing cows. They are big animals and we were quite scared after sunset when all the cows role called right near our tent and spent the night huddled next to us. Turns out they aren't the worst neighbors they just like their own space and get a little noisy😉 All in all this space is magic, the stars are incredible and you can totally catch sunrise and set.

Magic rock kingdom

I stayed here for the night on my road trip to Yellowstone and loved it! The only issues I had were that the Bathrooms were quite a ways away from the site I was at and some of the sites aren’t marked to well so they are a little hard to find. But overall a great campground! If you have some climbing gear I recommend climbing some of the rock formations nearby! The ones I did for a workout in the morning already had some tie-ins!

Great spot for an overnight stay!

We are a 20 foot skoolie. Road in is relatively smooth. No major pot holes. Plenty of large sites for RV’s or 40 foot school bus, and anything in between. Somewhat quiet other than highway noise, plenty of space between sites. Pretty windy, but the days are cool. Lovely views of the Medicine Bow National Forest. Great hiking opportunities. Enough connectivity to attend virtual classes and get work done! Although there is a bit of broken glass. Pack in, pack out!! 

Great spot to Boondock

We love Vedauwoo, but it has become very crowded and more trashy with the increased use. We arrived on a Tuesday around 2:00PM and was very hard to find a spot. That being said, we did find site #7 and it was great. A bit close to the main road, but most of them are. Still love it though.

Great Boondocking, very crowded

Beautiful area with lots of spots. We did find it hard to get one but we came late on a Friday. We were able to find a better one the following day. About equal distance to Cheyenne and Laramie approximately 25-30 min Beware: there is not a place near by to get beer or alcohol. There’s a small gas station with a convenience store but other than that not much for food or supplies even though their sign says “cold beer”. Lol. We learned that the hard way and had to go out at night to get our supplies! The star gazing is amazing and we saw lots of wildlife even with other campers close by. The spots are spread out but not totally isolated. I was worried about the condition of the roads based on other reviews but we were fine. We hauled our 14ft trailer with no problems. Some areas you just have to go super slow but mostly no issues traveling through. 

Great area with lots of spots!

Vedauwoo is a beautiful area with amazing rock formations.  We camped Memorial Day weekend and had an amazing spot well away from the main road. Very private. We did go up earlier in the week to secure the spot and there was absolutely nothing available by Thursday.  We camped again June 16-18 and found several sites at noon on Friday.  We fished at Curt Gowdy State Park that was only 10 minutes away.  We could also buy ice there at Gypsies camp store.  Somewhat windy but that’s Wyoming!

Love, Love Vedauwoo 

Not to far from the interstate.  Lots of nice spots.  Great views and perfect place to stop over traveling for the night.  

Awesome spot! 

This campground is truly spectacular. We got here on a Sunday evening and had no trouble picking any spot we wanted. There is a herd of grazing cattle that came up to us, but they were mostly curious and extremely skiddish of people. They wouldn’t let us go near them, they would just run away.

I highly recommend you drive as far back as you can, there are some awesome secluded spots especially on the spur roads. The roads are a bit bumpy but nothing most trailers couldn’t handle.