A world class climbing destination, Vedauwoo -pronounced vee-da-voo- is located just eleven miles east
of Laramie off Interstate 80 between Laramie and Cheyenne. Known to the Arapaho
Indians as "Land of the Earthborn Spirit," the rock formations of Vedauwoo
attract climbers, mountain bikers, hikers, vertical dancers, star-gazers, anglers,
cross-country skiers, and snowshoers from all parts of the world. The area sits
in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and it includes overnight campgrounds
and day-use picnic tables. Vedauwoo's characteristic hoodoos and outcrops is
1.4 billion year old Sherman Granite. These rocks represent some of the oldest
rocks in Wyoming, but are still more than a billion years younger than
the Tetons!
Vedauwoo is also a natural amphitheatre for the unique, one-of-a-kind Vertical Dance Festival. Every year in late August, the University of Wyoming's Snowy Range Summer Theatre and Dance Festival hosts its annual Vertical Dance festival. Vertical dance is a unique blend of modern dance using ropes and the natural contours of rock to allow free-flowing aerial movement. Since 1998, the presentations in the natural rock formations at Vedauwoo have offered Wyoming and northern Colorado audiences a breathtaking set to view dance. In 2009, the audience totaled nearly 1,800 and the performance was nominated for the Wyoming Arts Council's prestigious Governor's Arts Award.
