Seminoe Reservoir – Medicine Bow River
Since Texas Water Safari was postponed due to flooding I switched to plan B, packed my camera gear and Sea Wind canoe and drove to Wyoming instead of flying to Texas.
In my desperation I ignored weather forecast. My trip turned to be shorter than planned. In Wyoming I experienced heavy rains, thunderstorms, hail, strong wind, cold, and flooding. Nevertheless, I achieved my main goal – exploring the paddling access to Medicine Bow River Arm of the Seminoe Reservoir.
First, you need to drive to Hanna, a small mining town (hwy 72 from I-80). Then, there is about 25 miles of a dirt road – county road 291, and then a short narrow road to a boat ramp. This is a good gravel road traveled by RVs and boat trailers. Of course, after heavy rains driving conditions may be more challenging.
So, despite of rain and some water flowing across my road I reached the boat ramp in a pretty remote location. There were some people there, but they were hiding inside their campers. I took a short paddling upstream the Medicine Bow Arm of the reservoir. The wind was quite strong, but not so bad (actually good for training). However, when I got surrounded by thunderstorms with intense lightning I gave up and returned to my car.
I decided not to camp there – I was afraid that the road could get too muddy or washout during night, so I drove back to Hanna and I-80. Finally, I ended up for night at a motel in Rawlins. It was raining all night and till noon of the next day. When rain was stopping it was cold and windy. So, I stopped at Fort Steele to see the North Platte River, and then return home.
