The Master Plan Guiding Curt Gowdy State Park Predates Its Own Trail System

As Cap City News reported, Curt Gowdy State Park is currently managed under a plan drafted in the late 1980s. Park Superintendent Adam McKay confirmed as much this summer when Wyoming State Parks opened public input on a full rewrite. That earlier document was written for a park that barely resembles the one people ride today. It predates the mountain bike trails that gave Curt Gowdy its name outside Wyoming, predates the visitor center, predates Little House on the Park, and predates a stretch of growth that has turned a quiet water-recreation stop between Cheyenne and Laramie into the state's third most-visited park.

The numbers tell the story better than any description could. Annual visitation sat around 56,000 in 2006, before the park's trail-building program began in earnest. By 2013, after the International Mountain Bicycling Association helped design a new network, that number had already more than doubled to 120,000. By 2025, it had climbed to roughly 594,000, an increase of about 27 percent since 2019 alone. More than half of the park's out-of-state visitors now come from Colorado, arriving on the same 50 miles of trail that earned Curt Gowdy three separate IMBA "Epic" designations and coverage in Bike and Outside magazines.

None of that growth was planned for, at least not on paper. The document still guiding decisions about parking, campsites, and water infrastructure was written when the park's identity was water activities and camping, full stop. Whatever gets decided through the formal three-phase process Wyoming State Parks expects to finish by August 2027 will be the first real attempt to catch the plan up to the park people actually use.

Twenty years of trails, one old rulebook

The gap between the paperwork and the ground is not subtle. Trail construction at Curt Gowdy started in the early 2000s and accelerated after 2006, when the IMBA partnership began shaping what has become a multi-level network built specifically for mountain biking. Curt Gowdy served as the pilot project for a statewide hiking-trail program in 2009, adding 32 miles on its own. None of that activity shows up in a management document from the 1980s, because none of it existed yet.

As Cap City News reported, McKay was direct about what that mismatch has produced. Park administration has spent recent years focused heavily on trails, he said, but the people showing up may want something else entirely.

"So we're really just trying to get ideas."

That question, campsite improvements, water hookups, sunshades, more parking, is the one the new master plan is supposed to answer. Limited parking has already become a known friction point at busy trailheads. Whether the next plan responds with more paved lots, shuttle access, or something else entirely is still an open question, not a settled outcome.

What already happened this summer, and what hasn't

The first phase of public input closed on July 12, after a run of pop-up sessions that put project staff in front of people where they already gather. One stop was the Cheyenne Art Walk at Deselms Fine Art in June. Another was at the Laramie Farmers Market. A third happened inside the park itself, at Aspen Grove, putting the survey directly in front of campers and day users rather than asking them to seek it out online.

That phase is done, but the process is not. Two more phases remain before a finished plan in August 2027, and the project's public site still takes sign-ups for notice of future input opportunities. People who missed the June sessions or the July survey deadline have not missed their only chance to weigh in.

It is also worth knowing that master plans at Wyoming state parks do not automatically become reality once drafted. At Sinks Canyon State Park in Fremont County, a 2020 master plan proposed a via ferrata on a cliff face where peregrine falcons had historically nested. Public opposition mobilized, and the state ultimately abandoned that specific project. A plan sets direction, but the direction can still bend under public pressure once a proposal turns into an actual construction plan.

The Gowdy family's connection to the park

While the master plan process plays out on a multi-year government timeline, the visitor center and Little House on the Park are part of the park's story. The visitor center that anchors Curt Gowdy today was funded in 2013 by Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris and the Wyoming Legislature, and it opened in 2014. Little House on the Park, the children's kindness-education space next door, opened in 2023 and just finished its fourth season, closing for the year on September 6, 2026.

The park is named for Curt Gowdy, the Cheyenne-raised sportscaster, and his family has been involved with it for five decades. Cheryl Gowdy has taken part in Little House programming each season since it opened, and once summed up the family's reason for staying involved in simple terms.

"This is a family legacy that began with our father and continues with our family today."

The master plan will not decide whether the Gowdy family stays involved. It will decide how much room a park built for water sports and camping in the 1980s has left for a mountain bike destination, a growing visitor count, and a family-run children's space, all sharing the same 3,552 acres straddling Albany and Laramie counties.

What regulars should know heading into winter

A few practical details are worth carrying into the colder months, especially for anyone who treats Curt Gowdy as a regular weekend stop rather than a once-a-year trip:

• The park itself stays open 365 days a year with a valid camping permit, even as seasonal amenities wind down.
• The camp store, run under a concession bid awarded for the 2026 through 2028 seasons, is closed for the year with next spring's opening still to be determined.
• Little House on the Park is done for 2026 and will not reopen until next summer's season announcement.
• Shower access inside the visitor center was limited starting last summer, a small but telling sign of how far usage has outpaced the building meant to serve it.

None of these are dramatic. Together they describe a park running slightly ahead of the systems built to support it, which is exactly the gap the new master plan is supposed to close.

The plan is still being written

The part of this story that matters most for anyone who already treats Happy Jack Road as their own is that the outcome has not been decided. Phase one closed in July. Two more phases stand between now and a finished document expected by August 2027. The people who show up to the next round of public input, whether that means an online survey, another pop-up table, or simply signing up on the project's site for updates, are shaping what the next decade at Curt Gowdy actually looks like.

Team Happold spends plenty of weekends on that same stretch of Happy Jack Road, and we'll be paying attention as the master plan moves into its next phase. If you want to talk trail conditions, park plans, or anything else about life in Laramie County, reach out to Team Happold any time.