Friday 9-5-25 Ryan Campground in Medicine Bow National Forest

 

Ryan Campground

 

We spent the night at Saratoga Lake Campground. It took a bit before it cooled off but it did get down into the 40's. It was a great place to spend the night. But today we moved on to the mountains. 

Larry woke up at his normal time and I crawled out of bed at 7:30. We had another quick breakfast. We didn't have far to go so we weren't in any hurry. But when it's time to go we get excited so after breakfast we put everything away and secured. We were on the road by 8:30. On the way out we stopped at the dumpster and got rid of our trash and cans.

We drove through Saratoga and stopped at the Forest Service Office. Larry went in and asked if they had a flyer on when the campgrounds were closing. The website indicated Sunday would be the last day. They didn't have a flyer but the lady said all the campgrounds would be open until the first snow. The only thing that closed on Sunday was reservations, everything would now be first come, first serve. 

We traveled up a mountain for 30 miles to the first campground we were going to checkout. The campground was called Silver Lake. It had some hiking trail and we really wanted to stay there. But the first-come-first-serve we're very unlevel. Sunday all the sites are going to be first-come-first-serve. Ryan Campground was 10 miles back. We had no problem finding a site we liked. In fact we saw two sites, one by the bathroom and the site we decided on #15.

Ryan Campground is located in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The campground has three loops (Columbine loop 1-16, Alpine Loop 17-34 and Group Loop 35-49). We're in the Columbine loop for a couple of nights. It cost $20 dollars a night, there are no hook-ups. It has a vault toilet in each loop. The campground road is dirt but not too dusty because speed limit it 10mph. 

Ryan Campground was originally a Civilian Conservation Camp (CCC). In 1942 the U.S. Army remodeled it for use as a P.O.W. prison camp for Italian and German soldiers. The prisoners helped harvest lumber and received a small stipend for the daily effort. After the war some of the prisoners wanted to stay. It was used from 1942-1946 as the P.O.W. Camp.

We arrived at Ryan Campground at 10:20 and setup camp for a couple of nights. Then I walked down and paid. There is no Verizon service and AT&T is very slow so Larry setup the Starlink. He was amazed at how fast the connection was. He said he never got that fast of speed at home. He's very happy with the Starlink. 

After he setup Starlink we had lunch. Then we went for a walk around the campground and walked the Moose Trail. The trail was a .75 mile loop. Carroll Creek ran along side of the trail. We crossed over a small bridge and saw a cool bench made of logs. The trail started at the entrance of the campground and exited at the group campground. We walked around the group campground and took the trail through the P.O.W. camp to the RV loops. We had a very nice walk.

 

Larry crossing over Carroll Creek via bridge

 

Carroll Creek

 

Cool bench on the trail

 

Plaque in memory of the men of the P.O.W. camp

 

Camp fire ring in the group campground

 

Larry spent the rest of the afternoon doing research on where to go next. Due to the current levels of smoke our plans are changing. While Larry did research I took a nap. He called the National Forest offices in South Fork, Co. and Laramie, Wy. to find out when their campgrounds close. As with our current campground the website said they would all close Sundy but the ladies on the phone said they would be open until at least the end of the month and probably longer. All of the ladies he talked to we very friendly. 

For dinner Larry barbecued sausages. After dinner I went for a walk around the three loops. I had walked about two miles when Larry joined me. We walked another mile. We walked to the snow mobile parking lot and around the loops. We had a great three mile hike. By the end of the day I had done 13,500 steps.  

 

Sunset at Ryan Campground