I decided to do a week long trip over to Wyoming to get out of the smoke from the Utah fires. The first place I stayed was at Happy Jack. This area is also known as Blair Wallis, Vedauwoo, Headquarters, or Pole Mountain, in the Medicine Bow National Forest.
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| Rock formations at Happy Jack. |
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| Where I parked at Happy Jack. |
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| The log corrals at Happy Jack. |
There is a designated area for horse campers with 10 log corrals in a grid. There is a spring fed water trough nearby, but you still have to haul water a little ways. A nice lady from Nebraska leant me her wagon to use for that purpose. There is room for larger rigs and the easiest access is from above the corrals. There was a large group camped in there so I parked below the corrals in a grassy area. There are a couple of picnic tables, but no other amenities. This place can get a little busy, but there are also a zillion really nice flat dispersed spots to camp if you are set up with your own containment. Elevation is around 8600 feet. I had no cell service at camp, but I got some by doing a short hike to the Headquarters Trailhead.
As far as the riding goes, the trails are easy, in my opinion, a few hills and lots of flat land. Some single track and some two track, but the trails are shared with bikes.
I also went to Pelton Creek, which is right on the border of Colorado. The road is good getting out to the camp for about 8 miles, but the corrals are up on a hill and the access road is steep and goes around a curve. Having said that, a lady was camped there had a much larger trailer than mine and she made it up the hill.
There is a grid of 14 log corrals, two picnic tables and no other amenities. It's a good open area that can fit lots of rigs once you are up on the hill. There is no cell service whatsoever. There is stock water from the creek but it is down below, so either driving down and filling buckets by the culvert is an option or walking horses down a less steep trail that leaves near the lower picnic table.
Another half mile along the main road, where it dead ends, is a people campground. It has two bathrooms, a dumpster, and a map of the trails. There is also a potable water hand pump, but it was not working when I was there.
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| Pelton Creek. |
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| The corrals at Pelton Creek. |
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| The creek is down a steep hill. |
The Douglas Creek Trail is the only trail that is cleared at the moment, the Platte Ridge Trail has 500 trees down and a washed out section and needs to be rebuilt. There are also forest service roads you can ride on, and this is a pretty quiet area, not a lot of traffic on the main road.
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| On the Douglas Creek Trail. |
