Government Gully Rd - Dispersed

Review July 2023

FS 726  & FS728 (aka Govertment Gulch/Government Gully)

Medicine Bow NF

Laramie, WY

41.2430,-105.4487

14nt Stay Limit. $0

Elev 8743'

Ver 2-3b, ATT 3b, No booster

Dirt/Grass 

Road is in good shape. 

Dump & Water available at the Prison Museum, Water also available at the Maverick by the gas pumps.

Propane available at 3 locations, we used the 'Fly Shop', who were also a wealth of information on local happenings & fishing.

Laundry at Spic & Span. $3.00 wash, $1.00 for 32min dryer

Walmart & Ridleys for groceries. Farmers Market friday afternoons in season.

Some noise from I80 depending on wind direction.

Rig: 34' 5th Wheel, 13'4" Profile

Confusion about this road being closed.

FS 726 & 728 ARE on the Forrest Svc usage map.

We found FS728 to have a structure at the entrance from old HWY30. It looked like there might be a road back behind it, but we didn't want to risk trespass to find out. 

FS726 IS open from the Old HWY 30 side (Exit 323 off I80), and able to camp within 100' of the road. 

There is an open meadow at the entrance that can hold several rigs (any size) with reasonable spacing, but we were alone here most of the time so it wasn't an issue. There are spots further up that can hold small to medium sized rigs, or larger if you are adventurous/really good at leveling. Some have gorgous views overlooking the valley & snow capped mountains in the distance. We double checked with a Ranger before settting up and have had Rangers drive through twice since we've been here. No issues what so ever.

So why the confusion? 

Looking at older maps, there appears to have once been an entrance to FS726 further West that no longer exists? It is accesible from Old HWY 30, at the 323 exit. 

Additionally the road names 'Government Gully' & 'Government Gulch' used in  some reviews are apparently not/no longer are FS726, although they seem to run together for a short bit? It's very confusing. 

Highly recommend using a FS Usage Map when scouting this area to make certain you are where you think you are as the roads aren't the best marked we've ever seen and those that are there are pretty faded. If in doubt, the FS office in town was extremely kind & helpful in showing us where we could fit.

Our Spot:

We wound up here after 2hrs scouting out Pole Mountain/Pilot Hill area on the other side of I80. 

This was the week before July 4th, and it was crowded with both campers, and RV's that seem to have been placed to mark their spot for the holiday (Slides not out, no camping stuff out etc). No judgements, they were within their 14day limit. Just had a hard time finding a spot on that side of I80. 

Spots are pretty far back (although roads were pretty good), not many spots open, lots of cow patties, and not the levelist of sites. Gorgeous area, but we were here to see friends in Laramie and would be back & forth to town a lot, so didn't want a long drive just to get back to the highway each day.

We found it easy to find a spot on this side of I80 (everyone's on the other side). 

The whole area is rolling meadows & forrest, so be prepared to spend some time leveling. In fact if you can, take a rest stop, have a snack, destress before entering & leveling... it might save a marraige.

Wildlife here has been fantastic. Pronghorns in the morning as I have my coffee, and Elk in the evenings... Every...Day. 

There is no off roading in this area. It is marked at the entrance, and has wooden cross fences with signage at the back of the established sites further up the road. They take that 100' from road seriously.... nice about it... but to quote Gandolf 'You go thus far & no farther'.

CAUTIONS:

Exit 323 U25mph (really sharp).

This U curve is no joke. It's sharp, it's uphill/downhill grade, tilts slightly kind of like a roller coaster in the middle, and is a blind curve because of the trees. Not such a problem coming off Exit 323, the problem is more other drivers coming downhill at the curve from Old HWY30. We've seen 2 wipeouts that missed the curve (one a semi) and slide across oncoming (entrance to FS726) traffic. By the skid marks & disturbed ground, this isn't the first accident at this curve.

Brakes & Towing:

This is a mountain area. In only 6 days going back & forth the 8m to town to visit friends, we've seen 2 5th wheels pulling off I80 smoking like crazy, and 2 on the side of the road.

WIND:

Seriously, it gets windy here, and with no warning. Park accordingly, don't leave awnings out unattended, secure ground stuff. Our preffered scouted spot was beautiful until we moved the rig to it & found that there was no way to get level without putting our beam to the wind. After 3 tries, we opted for our 2nd choice where we could position nose to the wind & still get 'levelish'. Are we perfectly level, nope, but we aren't 'welcome to the carnival fun house' unlevel either :)

We foolishly thought we might find a dispersed spot at Vedauwoo in mid-July and were disappointed, but not really surprised. We had another pin dropped on our map for the dry camping at Government Gully Rd and headed there in the late afternoon.

The road in is pretty good, our low slung front wheel drive Travato made it easily, although there is a bit of a short, steep hill to climb if you can't find a spot in the lower area.

During our visit, the lower area could probably have supported one or two more rigs, but it would start getting a bit crowded at that point. We headed up the hill and found a great spot overlooking a mountain meadow (and some really cool dispersed camping sites if it hadn't been closed for a reclamation project). There were plenty of rigs up there, including some pretty big travel trailers and fifth wheels, but it was still pretty quiet. We could see the lights of Laramie in the distance out our back door, which was kind of nice.

So a decent campsite if you don't mind neighbors!