Best Campgrounds near Rock River, WY

Stayed 5 days here (stat limit 16 days). Close to Summit Rest Area (potable water March-October, flush toilets), Laramie for restocks, and the Vedauwoo Recreation Area. So much free camping here, only downsides are wind, & road noise. Absolutely beautiful views of the valley. Would stay again 100%

Very few other boondockers, and well dispersed. Very quiet with minimal traffic.

A dirt road about 1.25 miles leading to a boat ramp, with parking for cars/ trailers. There is a bridge with a 12ton limit per vehicle. more allowed if you are towing. peaceful and quiet at night with a very nice trail and bridge over the river . This is not really a campsite, just a nice free place to spend the night and then move on, but you can stay up to 5 days. had dirty bathrooms, no toilet paper.

Clearly marked directing you to the location. Bumpy dirt road until you reach the lot. It’s a parking lot camping location. Clearly marked camping area designated (5 days max). Clean, quiet, will stay again.

There are only a handful of sites, but we were fortunate to find one. The road was a little rough, but our lifted trailer of 22 feet in length cleared it just fine. There were other campers present. All were very friendly and quiet. There are hiking trails at the beginning of the road. There is also a potable water station and trash disposal at the Summit Rest Area just up the road. There was some trash at our site, but it was minimal, and we picked it up. Someone left us some great firewood, which we appreciated. We were very comfortable here. We stopped at the trailhead to pay the fee. There were envelopes and a pen.

Good spot . Road was very iffy for my 2wd sedan, but I made it. Perfect on the way in or out of medicine bow.

Lovely location with secluded spots. The stars and view were awesome and the wind blew just right all night.

Coordinates are accurate to camp location spot, it is right off the highway, giving you easy access. I recommend getting there early because minimal site locations. It was a bit windy when we went but found a grouping of trees. We also were lucky enough to see a moose walk right behind our campsite. It stopped and noticed us but eventually walked off.

Very peaceful campground, right by a lake with a nice view. People came and went throughout the day to go fishing at the lake and some with ATVs. 

During the night there was only one other group of campers but its a fairly large campground with plenty of spots so they were far away. The total amount of offroading is ~3 miles as most of the drive is paved road. The dirt road is well taken care of and almost any car could make it. This area seemed to be part of a wildfire as there are many trees cut down that have scorch marks. The lake is relatively small but theres another body of water just across the far end. I didnt venture over there but youre able to see it across the lake.

This is a quiet place to camp, and most of the sites are well placed and nice. The campsite itself was not extremely busy for a Friday night, but the nearby trailhead is extremely busy and people often drive/bicycle through the campsite.

Be warned: this campsite is above 8,000 ft. In altitude and the weather may change suddenly, especially early or late in the season. The night I was there, we had a 30 minute violent storm, complete with hail so thick you couldn’t see past the car (luckily I was in said car). Nothing was damaged, and the following morning we had blue skies and sun.

While many of the sites are reservable, there are 6 sites at this time (June 21, 2024) that are first come first served (up, from the 3 in an earlier review). This does give walk-ins a fair amount of choice.

America the Beautiful pass gets you 1/2 price.

The Bow River area has some beautiful scenery with rivers, trees, meadows, wild flowers, and wildlife. The forest service road into the campground is in great shape, and although it's a little rocky, there are no pot holes or rutted terrain. We made reservations for 3 nights, but only stayed 2, primarily because of a serious mosquito infestation. But that's nature and if you want to be in it, you have to be prepared for nature's unexpected turns. Just beware and prepared if you're visiting in June. 

The forest along the dirt roads are obviously big logging areas with clearcut swaths (no selective cutting) and grounds littered with slash. These areas are unsightly and make you wonder what kind of forest service management is being observed. It appears to be about satisfying a lumber industry instead of preserving the health and beauty of our national forests. 

What we weren't prepared for was the obvious neglect of the campground itself with seemingly little to no supervision or maintenance. We reserved and paid in advance for two campground sites at Bow River for ourselves and another couple. We arrived to find no posting of any reserved signs at either site. Luckily, there were few people there when we arrived so our sites were open and available to us. We're still wondering what we could have done if our sites had already been occupied by other campers. 

We also quickly discovered that no water could be collected from the handpump. Thankfully, we brought some water with us, but our friends had none so we had to be very frugal about our use of the little water we shared. We also gave one kettle of water to 4 young men who arrived with no water at all. They were forced to leave the next morning because of it. I still have not been able to find anything on rec.gov warning people that the campground has no drinking water available. This is irresponsible and, at the very least, creates an inconvenience/hardship for those who are paying to stay there. There is an assumption that the information being provided and the services being sold are accurate.  People arriving at this campground have traveled at least 19 miles on a dirt road with no facilities to get there. Are they just supposed to leave again and travel that same distance out if they have no water with them? 

Finally, the bathrooms were quite run down and dirty. The pits themselves seemed as though they had been cleaned out, but the doors were rotting and the floors were littered with paper and covered with dirt. 

We never saw any campground host, supervisor, manager, or employee of any kind. We did meet one man who circled the campground once, told us he was the campground host, and said he was looking at the sites for the first time. He was camped somewhere else and was told that his job was to drive to Bow River to colect any registration envelopes that might be in the iron collection box that was old and partially hidden behind some bushes, making it hard to locate. There also was no sign on the box.

The website claims "Open for 2024 Season!," "Tent camping, Camping trailer, Picnic tables, Toilets, Drinking water, Parking."

The bottom line is that this campground is sadly neglected. Too bad the forest service isn't paying attention.

Such a tranquil setting, we had the whole place to ourselves. About 3 miles off the beaten path , through the T&A Ranch. We will return.