- Located in Wyoming & Colorado
- >2.2 million acres
- High point: Medicine Bow Peak (12,013’/3661m)
- Wilderness areas: Encampment River, Huston Park, Savage Run, Platte River, Mount Zirkel, Sarvis Creek, Flat Tops (partial), Neota (partial), Never Summer (partial), & Rawah (partial)
- Established: 1902 Medicine Bow National Forest, 1905 Routt National Forest (administratively combined in 1995)
- Website
Colorado Hiked: American Lakes and Thunder Pass
I’m a creature of habit, and if I am going to drive two hours to hike I more often than not end up in Rocky Mountain National Park – specifically the entrances from Estes Park. Which is quite fine, though there is the hassle of timed entry reservations and crowds during the summer and fall.…
Medicine Bow Peak Snow Climb
“Putting this out there for my crazy friends that own ice axes and crampons… anybody want to join me on Sunday for a snow climb of Medicine Bow Peak?” All good ideas start with a solid Facebook post to crazy friends, right? I normally climb Medicine Bow Peak at least once a year, and have…
Wyoming Hiked: Gap & Shelf Lakes
I can’t say I’ve really explored this late in the year in the Snowy Range! Wanting to kick off my 39th birthday with some sort of hike, though being a day late, I headed up early to Lewis Lake Trailhead. Today I would explore a new-to-me trail to Shelf Lakes. This trail spurs off of…
Wyoming Hiked: Laramie Peak
Laramie Peak “is, at this day, covered with snow, which glitters in the sunshine like a diamond in the dark,” emigrant Dan Gelwicks writes in his diary – May 28, 1849. Treating emigrants to a view of its 10,275 foot summit for over a week as they made their way from western Nebraska into Wyoming,…
Wyoming Hiked: Turtle Rock Loop
What is an outdoorsy girl to do when its in the low 30’s, windy, and spitting snow? Hike, of course! It has been many years since I’ve done the Turtle Rock Loop at Vedauwoo, a spectacular place in the eastern Medicine Bow National Forest between Laramie and Cheyenne. I arrived to the ever-present wind, and…
Wyoming Hiked: Browns Peak Loop / Alpine Lakes Loop
Alpine Lakes Loop11.8 miles Back in September my adventure buddy, Lydia, and I headed up to the Snowies for a late summer season camping adventure. We didn’t quite bank on a foot of snow when we arrived to Brooklyn Lake, but we found a spot fairly sheltered from the wind and set up camp, ready…
Hiking Medicine Bow Peak
I’ve been up and down Medicine Bow Peak eight times since I was eight years old. Needless to say, it is my favorite place in the whole world. Medicine Bow Peak is the prominent peak of the Snowy Range mountains in southeastern Wyoming, and rises to an elevation of 12,018 feet (it was 12,013 for…
Wyoming Explored: Pole Mountain Camping
Sometimes you just have to get away, even if it’s just close to home and a quick trip to enjoy the longest day of the year on the Summer Solstice. This past spring REI put a lot of their tents on sale, so I pulled the plug and got myself a new tent, the Half…
Throwback Thursday: Understanding in a plane crash on Medicine Bow Peak
I originally published this post June 2012 on my cycling blog. Decided to dig it out of the archives to share again with very minor edits! Because 7 years have passed, there could be some big changes to the crash site thanks to snow, weather, time, and humans. For some background… Flight 409 crashed…
The Adventuring Heidi 