Hiking in Vedauwoo / Bear River State Park
Driving from Omaha, NE to Evanston, WY | Camping in Vedauwoo Recreation Area | Hiking to Brown’s Landing | Hiking in Bear River State Park | Camping at Woodruff Narrows Reservoir | November 2025
After spending an evening playing games with old friends in Omaha, we felt we needed to get further west. Cold weather was being hinted at in the forecast and we wanted to get ahead of it as much as possible. For the past 2 years, our ‘Western Winter Migration’ trips have involved driving to the Southwest to avoid any sort of cold or snow along the way. But since this year we were able to leave several weeks earlier than we usually do, we were ready to take on the risk of choosing a more Northern route that would allow us to visit parts of the country we haven’t experienced together yet, like Southern Oregon and Northern California. If we could just make it across Nebraska and Wyoming, it looked like we would be in the clear for a while.
After stocking up on food and supplies at our last Aldi for a while, we picked up I-80 heading West…and, with the exception of our traditional Culver’s stop in Kearney, pretty much stuck to the interstate the entire drive across Nebraska. We love the state and would have loved to drive some of the more scenic highways. But this trip, our sights were clearly fixed to the far West, and that meant crossing Nebraska in a day.
Just around sunset we crossed into Wyoming and passed through Cheyenne. To the West of Cheyenne we returned to a favorite boondocking spot near Vedauwoo Recreation Area. And just like all the other times we have stayed in this area, the night was cold and windy (though without the thunder and lighting) and we were glad to be back in our warm and cozy van.
The next day we knew would also be primarily a driving day to get across Wyoming, so we opted to start the day with a morning hike in the nearby Sherman Mountains, the top of which meets my prominence goal. The forest roads that crossed through the area were very well maintained and we soon arrived at the Western trailhead of the Headquarters trail. It was still very cold and windy, but we bundled up and started up the trail. The trail climbs up to Brown’s Landing, a park/meadow that looks out over the plains to the east. Unfortunately, once we cleared the ridge the really cold wind started to blow. Jess opted to shelter in some rocks and enjoy the view while I went and tagged the summit.
My route to the top of the mountains (officially called Leg Benchmark) was a short bushwhack off trail, but mostly followed the ridge which only had the tracest amounts of snow on the North side. After a quick picture on the summit of the much more snow covered Medicine Bow range to the South, I hurried back to Jess and then to the van where we warmed up. Fortunately (and perhaps oddly), that was both the highest elevation and coldest we’d be on this trip for at least the first several weeks.
From here we followed a state highway back to Telegraph pass where we picked up I-80 again heading West. The tall mountains to the South were snowcapped and often cloud bound, and the interstate was windy and blustery. We’d also love to spend more time in this area, but I don’t think early winter is the right time.
We made good time and soon reached the town of Evanston, right before the WY/UT border. Jess had been this far on I-80 before, but I hadn’t. We got out in town where the wind had calmed down considerably and took a walk along the Bear River through town. Bear River is the largest river in North America that does not drain to an ocean, and the trails here made for a great way to stretch our legs after sitting all day. As sunset approached we left I-80 behind and headed North, just barely crossing into Utah, before going to Woodruff Narrows Reservoir, an impoundment of the Bear River. There was just the smallest parcel of public land amid all the private ranch land, but overnight camping was permitted and free, and we were quite thankful for that. We made it in time to watch the last bit of light turn the clouds overhead pink before the sun disappeared.
Hiking with Charlotte in Vedauwoo, April of 2022
