Guernsey State Park — Attraction in Guernsey

Beautiful park. Easy access to campsites. Close to historical sites such as Ft. Laramie, Oregon Trail Ruts and Register Cliff. The lake is huge and is usually full - although it is emptied several times per year. Plenty of sandy beaches for the kids to wade and swim.

Are you a lakeside partier who has a boat or jet ski and enjoys water sports? This is your scene. Expect loud music, all day parties with varying amounts of alcohol consumption, droning jet skis, ski boats and topping the list were the unmuffled jet boats with supercharged big block chevy's. Want to get away for some "peace and quiet"? The partying from a few campsites will continue well into the night. The last night we were there, I saw one drunk woman fall down right beside the vault toilet and her beer bottle smashed all over. She couldn't seem to get up so I stood up to go help the struggling woman and about then, her friend came out of the toilet to help her up. I was worried about the glass as my family used that toilet during the day. I went down to see what needed to be cleaned off the sidewalk first thing in the morning before any of my kids headed that way. Luckily, they or someone had already cleaned it up. The drunk woman did leave a pile of puke though. There is NO fishing here as the lake is totally drained a couple of times per year. You can float the North Platte but that is about it for angling. Don't even think about fishing from the banks. I tried 4 different public access areas and they were all basically for put in/take out for float trips. Two other things to bear in mind - both laden and unladen BNSF coal trains will rumble right beside the South side campgrounds all day and all night. They blow their horns to warn wildlife off the tracks - plenty of deer around Guernsey. Also, while we were there, the National Guard was having night time gunnery practice in their helicopters. The range where they fire is adjacent to the park.

I am glad we went as we got to see the historical sites that we wanted to visit. Nice looking park - just...

It's a lovely park, and I can't blame park management for the weather that turned nasty overnight, but our stay did present a few problems that no one could be bothered to help us with: When we got to our reserved tent site, we found on its gravel tent pad a giant anthill that would have required a shovel and some poison to clear out. (Come on, people--At least occasionally get out there and actually inspect your sites!) When we called the park check-in number and left a message about this problem, no one ever got back to us. Fortunately, we found an ant-free spot in the Upper Spotted Tail CG--which, incidentally, the website made no mention of as a first-come-first-serve option--and we called in our change to the check-in line, hoping that someone would hear it and we wouldn't get put on the "no-show" list. We were never called back. The entrance booth had been empty when we got there, so when we got up the next morning we drove back to it to ask about trail maps. When asked, the person staffing the booth initially told us that not all hiking trails could be biked on, but when I asked for specifics she ultimately said the exact opposite: that any hiking trail could be ridden, as well. I got the feeling she actually wasn't sure of the real answer, but upon request she was able to supply us a couple of blurry, hard-to-read trail maps that appeared to be fifth-generation photocopies. When we stopped at the shower house, it was locked, and we could find no further information on when it might be open. (On the bright side, the vault toilet in our CG was almost spotlessly clean and largely odor-free.) In general, the park felt abandoned in regard to park staff and we got the sense that you just have to figure it out on your own, with precious little assistance from live humans. I don't mind paying site and reservation fees to support park operations, but for the price I expected at least minimal service and an ant-free site. But that would require effort that it seems park management just doesn't want to put...

Yurts were an excellent option in the cold weather. We drove through the campsites and I would not recommend them for tent camping unless you don't mind being packed in with neighboring campers. As the park is primarily focused on the reservoir, the layout is extremely narrow so campsites are very crowded and many of them are adjacent to the railroad tracks. Adjacent meaning 30 yd or so and the trains run non-stop am and pm. It's Wyoming so really that's not surprising at all. Overall, the reservoir is truly beautiful and there are some fun loops you can hike with scenic views of the hills, reservoir, and mountains to the west. We will definitely be back in the summer with kayaks. I would also stay in the yurts again as they have wonderful views and are quite isolated from the rest of the park. The decks offer fantastic sunrises and sunsets, and each yurt had a fire ring outside for warmer months. Bring basic cleaning supplies because the yurts are supposed to be equipped with everything you need to clean up after you check out but ours wasn't. Make sure to also pack lights as the overhead solar ones are insufficient. The woodstove was awesome, but the yurt will cool off exponentially by 2am in the winter as they aren't insulated. Bring an INDOOR propane heater or set an alarm to get up and stoke the fire if you stay in the winter. We really enjoyed this little park for a lazy weekend. It's location might make a great base for some serious hiking up in the Laramie Peak area, but if you're an avid hiker you'll probably be able to finish the trails in a day or less. The CCC castle is delightful and worth visiting. This is a great park for people wanting to camp but looking for nice amenities...