Medicine Bow Peak is the highest peak in the Snowy Range, a part of the Medicine Bow Mountains, about 35 miles (56 km) west of Laramie, Wyoming. It lies within Medicine Bow National Forest and is the highest point in southern Wyoming. The summit lies in extreme western Albany County, but the mountain's lower reaches stretch westward into eastern Carbon County. The summit is 12,018 feet high and is visible from Snowy Range Pass, elevation 10,847 ft, on Wyoming Highway 130, a Wyoming Scenic Byway. The most commonly used trail to the peak is a four-mile hike featuring switch-backs and a great deal of loose rock. The trails to the peak are usually open from early June to mid October.
Southern extent of Medicine Bow Peak rising above Lake Marie.
Summit of Medicine Bow Peak
View from the summit of Medicine Bow Peak
The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend 100 miles (160 km) from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range. From the northern end of Colorado's Never Summer Mountains, the Medicine Bow mountains extend north from Cameron Pass along the border between Larimer and Jackson counties in Colorado and northward into south central Wyoming. In Wyoming, the range sits west of Laramie, in Albany and Carbon counties to the route of the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Interstate 80. The mountains often serve as a symbol for the city of Laramie. The range is home to Snowy Range Ski Area.
Clark Peak viewed from Rocky Mountain National Park
Medicine Bow Peak