Laramie County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Laramie County

Two hundred thousand visitors compress into Cheyenne every year over a 10-day window for Cheyenne Frontier Days (the last full week of July) — billed by the Cheyenne Frontier Days organization as 'the world's largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration' and supported by the PRCA Top 50 rodeo circuit, a 9-night concert series at Frontier Park Arena, the Indian Village powwow, a chuckwagon cookoff, a Grand Parade through downtown, and the Old Frontier Town living-history reconstruction. Laramie County's 2,686 sq mi wrap Cheyenne (population 65,165, Wyoming's largest city, its capital, and the only Wyoming municipality with rail-hub status on the Union Pacific main line), Vedauwoo Recreation Area (the rock-climbing capital of the Northern Plains per Climbing Magazine 2023 regional roundup, with Sherman Granite hoodoo formations accessible from I-80 exit 329 between Cheyenne and Laramie), and the eastern Medicine Bow National Forest. Curt Gowdy State Park between Cheyenne and Laramie on WY-210 accepts rigs to 40 ft on 145 campsites split across the Granite Springs, Crystal Lake, and North Causeway loops, with electric hookups on most sites; reservations open 6 months out through Wyoming State Parks' reservation system.

Vedauwoo's South Buttress is the most-trafficked Wyoming rock-climbing area outside Sinks Canyon, with rigs to 30 ft accommodated at the Vedauwoo Campground (28 sites, no hookups, first-come basis). Medicine Bow National Forest dispersed camping is permitted under the standard 14-day stay limit on Forest Service Road 700 (Pole Mountain Unit) and Forest Service Road 720, with rigs to 30 ft accommodated. City of Cheyenne Municipal Code §10.16.310 prohibits overnight RV street parking citywide; the Frontier Park RV Lots reserve exclusively for Cheyenne Frontier Days ticket-holders during the event week and require advance reservation through CFD's official lodging portal. The Wyoming State Capitol (1888, gold-leaf dome restored 2017-19, free public tours) sits on Capitol Avenue 5 blocks from the I-25 / I-80 interchange. F.E. Warren Air Force Base (the only active US Air Force base hosting ICBM operations west of the Mississippi) anchors the city's western edge — public access restricted but the Atlas missile site museum at the Warren ICBM and Heritage Museum is open by appointment.