Medicine Bow Routt
National Forest
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all fotos copyright: Eva Geigl / Royal Flyfishing
After our long stay in the Bighorn National Forest, we were now on our way from Saratoga to the Medicine Bow Routt National Forest. After about 21 miles on Snowy Range Road 130 at an elevation of about 9700 feet, we visited the Ralph Hesson Memorial. Ralph was a Forest Service employee and later he worked in fisheries on the Laramie Ranger District. This memorial and the small viewing/fishing pier here on North French Creek was built because it exemplifies his passion for trout conservation and flyfishing.
The beautiful high-altitude panoramic road Snowy Range Rd.130, Snowy Range Scenic Byway (formerly called “Great Skyroad”), leads through the former large glacier area with many lakes, is about 70 miles long and ends in the plain near Laramie. You pass Lake Marie and on to Mirror Lake with a fascinating view of the Snowy Range mountains, on which the snow was actually (now in mid-July) still lying in places. A very beautiful hiking area, fishing is allowed at every lake, both by boat and from the shore. The highest mountain in the Snowy Range is the “Medicine Bow Peak” with an elevation of approx. 12000 ft. Information: https://www.visitlaramie.org/blog/post/alpine-lakes-of-the-snowy-range/
On the way to Nash Fork Creek and the Brooklyn Lakes we were able to observe a bull moose.
There were only a few fishing opportunities on Nash Fork Creek because the creek flows through very dense forest and scrub or is not accessible at all due to a canyon section. You will see at the fotos, part of the forest is destroyed by Pine Beetles, but is currently recovering again.
Another popular hiking and horseback riding area is Brooklyn Lake from which the Nash Fork rises. Many hiking trails to other glacial lakes start from here. There was still snow here in places. Unfortunately, the campground was full, which was no surprise, and there was no camping possibility at the not far away Little Brooklyn Lake (protected area). It would certainly have been a fantastic stay at above 10,500 feet in elevation on a crystal-clear blue lake surrounded by beautiful mountains. Advance camping-reservation by telephone or booking via Smartphone with the Laramie Ranger District (USDA-Forest Service) is highly recommended in this Snowy Range area, also for the Libby Lake and its campground - we couldn't take any photos there because the parking lot was also overcrowded. Near the Little Brooklyn Lake is a peaceful place with a gorgeous view to the big vast valley: the St. Alban's Open Air Chapel, built with granite rocks at about 1940.
On the route between Nash Fork Creek (see above) and Laramie there would have been two more interesting rivers to fish, but we had not found any motorhome parking space nearby or the official campsites were occupied. Our motorhome running low on fuel and water soon, so we decided to continue straight to the town of Laramie.
Laramie is the fourth largest city in Wyoming. At first in downtown Laramie, we visited the „Wyoming Women's History House“ - sorry we did not take photos of this museum, but information are at the website: https://wyomingwomenshistoryhouse.org/
We learned a lot about famous women: in 1870 six Laramie women served as the first female jurors in the world, Martha Symons Boies was the first woman in the world to be appointed bailiff and Louisa Swain of Laramie was the first woman in America to vote in a general election. This was the first time in world history that women were given the opportunity to serve their community in this way.
We were impressed by the visit to the „Wyoming Territorial Prison“ in Laramie. It was opened in 1872 as a US prison, a 197 acre site. It later became Wyoming's first state prison. For 30 years, violent outlaws were held here, including the notorious Butch Cassidy. He founded the Wild Bunch, the most successful gang of thieves in USA, which included the Sundance Kid and other men who were locked up in this prison. There are much information and also stories of the other various inmates, male and female. You can visit several prison buildings, including the prison broom factory. There are also exhibits in some of the farm buildings, cabins and barns here you could see the interiors. You should plan some hours to visit the prison, it is a fascinating experience.
Twin Buttes Lake is about 250 acres in size and about 18 miles from Laramie, with a view of the Sheep Mountains and Snowy Range and approx. 25 miles from the Colorado border. There are numerous free campsites here. It is ideal if you have a boat - the lake is known for trophy-sized brown trout, rainbow trout and even cutthroat trout can be caught. A beautiful, quiet place where you can observe many birds, pelicans and many antelopes graze peacefully in the area. When a bald eagle flew its “scouting” round, the many ground squirrels here reacted quite nervously, whistled "high alarm" and fled super fast in their burrows. A place of tranquility here in the Laramie Plains.
Not far from Twin Buttes Lake, about 15 miles towards the Colorado border, you can fish on the Laramie River. We drove to the Jelm Fishing Access. This section was very scenic, but the river had very little water and we had to look for small rapids, pools and undercut meadow banks. But we didn't catch anything, there were only a few bites on the hook. All other routes to the official fishing access points to the Laramie River, such as the gorge, were unfortunately not suitable for our Motohome. The Laramie River is one of the main tributaries of the North Platte River.
From the Laramie River we drove back towards Laramie to Lake Hattie Reservoir. With an area of around 2500 acres, Lake Hattie is the largest lake in the Laramie Plains. Just like at Twin Buttes Lake, free camping is possible here. Every boat angler here has been very busy and excited because you can catch really big browns, rainbows, yellow perch and kokanee salmon...with worms or shrimps, of course. But soon the fun was over for all the campers here and for the boaters on the lake: a powerful storm came up, heavy rain and we even experienced two thunderstorms at the same time...one came from the direction of Laramie and the other from the Colorado mountains. Thunderbolts from left and right around our Motohome.
We and our Motohome “survived” this weather disaster at Lake Hattie and drove back to Laramie the next day to buy something, to be fit for the trip to Denver, to drop off the Motohome and then make our way to the airport and fly back to Germany. What we had already seen in Laramie the days before, we couldn't resist: a really sweet cupcake shop called "The Sugar Mouse". Cupcakes in abundance in all colors and flavors.
Memorial to rodeo legend and singer Chris Ledoux in the town of Kaycee (U.S. Hwy25).
Flags of Plains Indian Tribes
