COFFEE & CONCRETE // WYOMING

Like most things we do, this trip started out as a farfetched conversation about how cool it’d be to load up a van & cruise all over Wyoming in search of concrete skateparks…after doing some Googling, we quickly realized there was A LOT of good concrete to check out. We “finalized” what would turn into a 1700+ mile route it was beginning to feel a lot more real.

Jason Lorenz of KeepItFvn & I pushed out of Longmont, CO around 5:30pm on the afternoon of June 3rd & headed north to Laramie, WY. Around 8pm we landed at our first park, riddled with excitement we jumped out the van as quickly as possible in effort to grab a session in before the sun set behind the mountains. We snapped a few photos during the session but lost light pretty quick & made the game time decision to push on to Evanston, WY which is about 4.5 hours west of Laramie – we brewed up a quick cup of coffee & took off. A little after mid night as we were approaching Evanston we had a near miss with two deer standing in the middle of I-80, I kid you not they were standing on either side of the lane on the lines of the road, the fact that we didn’t collide with either of them was nothing short of a miracle.

The next morning we woke up thankful for our luck on the drive in, brewed up a few of cups coffee & headed to our second park of the trip; Evanston. Now this park was nothing to write home about, it was hard to ride & had to be close to 30 years old but we made the best of it & cruised it for an hour or so. After getting a few clips we loaded up the & started our journey north to Jackson, WY. Along the drive to Jackson as we passed through a small town called Alpine, WY Jason yelled out “SKATE PARK“, naturally we did a u-turn & had to go check it out. This small, difficult to ride park in this cool little mountain town ended up being a nice little pit stop to break up the drive.

Back in the van we continued on to Jackson, where we landed around 4pm & immediately rolled into the skatepark which was jam packed full of scooter kids alongside their distracted parents – a combo that makes skateparks scarier than a Moroccan snake pit. We made the decision to go hunt down some food & seek out a spot to camp. At dinner we discovered a killer spot with the Teton Range as a backdrop, hopped in the van & hauled ass in the direction of camp…once arriving to camp we realized in our excitement we weren’t paying attention to the van’s fuel level & were in the middle of nowhere with a gas light on. Jason hopped on his phone & found the nearest gas station which was 25 miles away, with fingers crossed we were on the move only to find out the gas station was in the Teton National park & barricaded off with a sign that read “CLOSED FOR THE SEASON DUE TO COVID-19“. Jason & I made decision to do some light trespassing decision to drive around the gate into the service station & to our surprise the pumps were on. We topped the rig off & headed back to camp to shoot some photos & get some rest.

The next morning we woke up before the sun in effort to shoot some sunrise photos before we headed back to the Jackson park for a scooter-less session. We arrived to an empty park & got to work learning the over-vert, technical bowl. About an hour after arriving we were ready to start filming & once we broke the camera out the stoke level turned up a few notches which set the tone for the rest of the trip. We spent a few hours at the park before we were downright exhausted & ready for a swim so we started the drive to our next destination. Along the way we passed though Teton National park where we took a dip in Jackson Lake before rolling into Yellowstone, where we jumped out every opportunity we got to do the tourist thang.

After driving for what felt like forever we arrived in Cody, WY to a park we were both looking forward to based off the photos we found online. Thankfully the images we’d found didn’t let us down – the place was perfect. Accompanied by the local BMX crew we got to work dialing in lines & filming, once again racing the sun. Jason won the session with his massive pocket airs & channel transfer line, lots of stoke an high fives were going around as the session came to & end. Jason & I hung out in the parking lot while he cooked up some beyond burgers, the energy was high as we decided to burn the midnight oil once again & point the van south toward Riverton, WY which was another 2.5 hour drive. Jacked up on caffeine we rolled into Riverton around 1am & found a spot to park right next to the park & fell asleep to a windstorm that felt like it was gonna roll the van on it’s side.

The next morning we awoke to someone talking through the window of the van saying “I think they’re sleepin’ in there, if you can hear us please move so we can put a trailer here”. Sleepy eyed Jason & I looked at each other sprung up, started the van & took off around the corner to find a new spot to park. After parking & brewing up a cup we walked over to the park, which looked like it was just built – we were STOKED. Our session was cut short by wind & rain, so we hopped back in the van & continued south to Lander, WY.

Along the drive to Lander we drove through a storm that brought gnarly gusts of wind, buckets of rain & doubts that we’d get to enjoy the next skatepark. Upon our arrival the park was drenched with rain & the forecast didn’t look promising. We sat in the van reflecting on the trip so far debating whether or not we should just head back home, after debating for some time we decided to wait it out & our decision paid off in a big way. An hour or so into waiting the clouds opened up, sun came out & the pool coping lined bowl dried up. Anxiously we grabbed our bikes & ran into the park as we didn’t know when the next bout of rain would arrive – it never did, the session was heavy.

Exhausted from four days of non-stop driving & our recent session we pointed the van back toward Laramie, homeward bound when we saw that the weather back home on the front range was terrible. We sat a gas station in Laramie trying to figure out if we should just brave the weather or figure out an alternative plan. From where we sat was 2.5 hours to home or 2.5 hours to Steamboat, CO a small mountain town neither Jason or I had ever visited & if that wasn’t enough reason to go that direction they had a brand new concrete park there too – after a serious debate we were Steamboat bound.

We crested Rabbit Ears pass into Steamboat right at sunset which prompted us to pull the van over on a pull out, take in the view & snap some photos. After takin’ in the sights we descended into Steamboat & found ourselves at The Corner Slice, a funky pizza joint with a local vibe. We stuffed our faces with pizza before heading across town to find a spot to crash for the night. Once we located a sport to park, we concocted a coffee old fashioned to celebrate a killer road trip. We woke up early & got to the skatepark before anyone else & yet again were beyond stoked to find a perfect bowl, this time with a little bit of everything we enjoyed riding. It was the cherry on top of the trip, an unexpected addition that made the trip that much better.

We wrapped our session up, jumped in the van for one last 4 hour jaunt to home. Along the ride back we were in disbelief over the locals we had met, insane views we took in & outstandingly RAD parks we were fortunate enough to ride. If you’re ever interested in the Coffee & Concrete loop, I’ve included the parks in the order we rode them & their addresses below.