September 5-11, 2024
After about two weeks of fairly primitive living it was time for a city with amenities like laundromats, decent groceries, restaurants and showers. I stayed at the Laramie RV Resort. I’m not sure how much of a “resort” it is but it worked well enough for me.
I did not take any photographs of the campground. It is an old KOA that for whatever reason the owner did not renew the franchise. Still has the look and feel of a KOA. I spent the first day doing laundry, buying supplies, and walking around town. I spotted the alligator on my walk.
South Gap Lake, North Gap Lake and Shelf Lakes Trail
The Medicine Bow – Routt National Forest is about 30 miles west of Laramie. I had two hikes planned. First is the South Gap Lake, North Gap Lake, and Shelf Lakes Trail. Here’s the map.
The reflections in the alpine lakes were phenomenal. I couldn’t stop taking pictures.
Medicine Bow Peak
My second hike was to the Medicine Bow Peak. A friend (Lindsay) drove up from Colorado to hike it with me. Medicine Bow Peak is the highest (12,013 ft) in the Snowy Mountain Range. Pictures really can’t do justice of this hike — it is brutal. Lindsay has hiked this several times and shortly after we departed the trail head she took off and made it to the peak about an hour ahead of me. One of the pictures below shows what looks like a pile of rocks – the top of that pile is the peak. And the rocks are really boulders that one scrambles to reach the peak.
Start of the trail looks easy enough.
The wooden spike in the ground marks the trail. These are spaced every 500 feet or so. I became a boulder field.
The peak is in sight!
Climbing that pile of rocks was a B***H!
That pole marks the top.
And a well deserved, albeit too short, break to enjoy the views. Then started down the other side …
On the ride back to Laramie we stopped at an overlook and I got these pictures about the Snowy Range..
And this surprising plaque. I did research back at camp – these are snippets from wikipedia.
“United Air Lines Flight 409 was a scheduled flight which originated in New York City, New York. The final flight destination was San Francisco, California, with stops in Chicago, Denver and Salt Lake City. The aircraft operating the service, a Douglas DC-4 propliner, registered as N30062,[1] crashed into Medicine Bow Peak, near Laramie, Wyoming, on October 6, 1955, killing all 66 people on board (63 passengers, 3 crew members).” … “Flight 409 left New York, New York one hour and 11 minutes late. Routine crew changes were made in Chicago and Denver. Flight 409 departed Denver, Colorado at 6:33 a.m. on October 6, 1955, 83 minutes after its scheduled departure time. The assigned path the airliner was expected to fly was along airways V-4 Denver to Laramie, Wyoming V-118 to Rock River, Wyoming radio, V-6 to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and V-32 to a landing in Salt Lake City. The flight was operating under Visual Flight Rules and was assigned a cruising altitude of 10,000 feet. Because the aircraft was not pressurized, the altitude was chosen to keep the passengers and crew from experiencing the discomfort that flying higher could cause. The route assigned to the airliner was specifically designed to allow safe passage at 10,000 feet over the continental divide in the Rocky Mountains.”
The next day I moved on to Colorado.