Grayrocks Reservoir Public Access

We stayed here one night on our way to the Oregon Trail Ruts and Fort Laramie Historical Site. There are many campsites along the waters edge, easy access and plenty of space with great views of the reservoir. Vault toilets and trash containers are available. The road is paved from Wheatland, WY to the reservoir, access to the campsites is gravel and dirt, many sites have rock firerings and shade trees.

We stayed a Sunday night. It was busy, but still quiet.

There are some restrooms and trash service.

All the spots are lake side.
We were able to get tucked under some trees with our own little beach area.

Bugs weren’t even bad considering we were right next to the water.

Road is a little bumpy, but would still be manageable with a trailer.

Little bit of trash, but I’ve seen much worse elsewhere.

This was a nice and pretty spot, but extremely crowded this time of year. Lots of folks on the weekends but a lot less during the week. People unfortunately leave their trash and don't really care about picking up after themselves. There were tons of cows everywhere as well and they were a little aggresive. They didn't like our dog even though our dog didn't pay attention to them much. Also, the bugs were INSANE. We could barely go outside most of our time there. The gnats would come through our vent fans and it was like it was raining bugs all day long. So we ended up having to close our fans/doors when it was in the 90's. Not fun. Overall, we would stay again but definitely not during May-July.

I honestly don't even want to write this review, because I want to keep this incredible campsite a secret. But if you're into gorgeous views (both day and night) while camping mere feet from the water, this is your oasis.

Grayrocks Reservoir is a massive, 3,500-acre body of water with miles of free waterfront camping. The camping area is divided into 9+ gates, each with separate entrances. We recommend doing a loop when you arrive to check which gate is least crowded, but don't worry - there is plenty of room for everyone.

The reservoir was fairly active on the weekend with people boating, swimming, and fishing, but we camped away from the main boating area so our part of the lake stayed calm. During the week it was completely empty - we were the only campers for four straight days.

We also had amazing internet here, although the bars didn't reflect it (we all know bars don't mean anything anyway!). We used AT&T tethered and unboosted and were getting 28-32 down / 4-6 up. Similar speeds with Verizon. Easily able to video conference, do all our work, and stream Netflix at night.

Finally, speaking of night, Grayrocks has one of the best night skies I've ever seen. Plan to be here around the New Moon and you'll be rewarded with a gorgeous view of the Milky Way!

Although we weren’t quite sure we were in an official spot, we setup alone on a Monday night near the boat ramp by a rock fire ring right on the water.
Bathrooms were close by (although dirty) and we did have a neighbor a couple hundred yards away who enjoyed his music well into midnight, luckily we were too tired to care.
Great spot for the stop over, good roads and signage on the way in.

If arriving from/exiting north, know that the road from Ft. Laramie is gravel. It has areas of washboarding, and can be slow going due to this (10 - 25 mph). The road to/from Guernsey is paved, and visually interesting as a plus.

Gate 2 is the closest to the Cottonwood Draw hiking trail, which looked interesting, though we did not hike it.

Outrunning severe weather in northern CO, we arrived here on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. We expected there to be a lot of folks here, and there were, but yet we found a private area. There is plenty of space for all. This would be an especially great place for camping with a large group of people. Some spots near us could easily accommodate 5 - 10 rigs.

Many birds, frogs and jumping fish to be seen here. Insects were present, but didn’t pose a problem.

Verizon service was spotty at best, and we relied on our weather radio for alerts and info.

Great Camping, especially if with multiple rigs. If arriving/exiting from the north, access from Ft. Laramie is on a gravel road that is fairly washboarded in places, making for slow passage. The road from Guernsey is paved and visually more interesting.

We arrived on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, having outrun severe weather to the south. There were a ton of folks here for the holiday, and we still found a private, lakeside place to camp. There is plenty of space here.

Gate 2 places you closest to the trailhead for Cottonwood Draw trail. We saw many frogs, birds and insects, though they weren’t bothersome. Fish jumping is visible from shore.

Almost no cell service, so relied on weather radio.