Description:

Guernsey State Park is a 6,000 acre state park surrounding Guernsey Reservoir that provides a variety of water recreation, day use and overnight camping opportunities. The rugged and scenic landscape of the park offers scenic vistas and overlooks, hiking and biking trails, rock climbing and wildlife viewing opportunities. In addition to an unlimited number of outdoor recreation activities that can be found at Guernsey, the park is also a national historic landmark. Guernsey State Park provides one of the finest examples of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work in the Rocky Mountain area. While the park has long been known as a haven for boating, camping, hiking and picnicking activities, it’s real treasure may lie in the exceptional CCC work that can be seen throughout the park. CCC projects in the project include hiking trails, bridges, roadways, overlooks and buildings. The Guernsey Museum and the “Castle” are just two of the must-see Guernsey CCC structures and facilities that can be found at this unique and beautiful park.

History:

Workers finished building a dam across the North Platte River in 1927 creating Guernsey Reservoir. The reservoir and the thousands of acres surrounding the reservoir provided the backdrop and the perfect natural canvas for the Bureau of Reclamation and the Civilian Conservation Corp to develop a park. The CCC worked at Guernsey State Park from 1934- 1937 and took a rugged and undeveloped landscape and turned it into the unique and picturesque park that we see today. The park came under state management in 1957 and is one of the many sites currently operated and managed by the Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails Division (SPHS&T).