Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hiking in the Snowies


Once Melissa and I returned from the Family Reunion Tour, we thought one of the best ways start feeling at home in Laramie area would be to do some hiking. After all, we love hiking, and Laramie is a very outdoorsy kind of place. We decided to hike a trail in the Snowy Range, which is about 40 miles west of Laramie. The Snowy Range is part of the Medicine Bow National Forest, and Medicine Bow Peak is the highest mountain in the Snowies. The trail we hiked, the Tipple Trail, passed through some beautiful landscape and had excellent views of Medicine Bow. Here's what we saw.







An old miner's cabin.



A trail marker.




















This is an old broken-down mine with a vertical shaft.



I have to say that the photos don't really do justice to our experience. The elevation of the trail we hiked was about 10,000 feet. The trailhead is located at an overlook with Medicine Bow Peak directly above and vast stretches of the Snowy Range below the trail. To stand at that elevation with a chilly wind whipping at us, we felt exposed but also inspired. Most of the trail we hiked was under the cover of trees, so we were sheltered from the wind.

This is a photo from one of the overlooks.

As we drove down from the mountain after our hike we saw this huge moose just off the road. Amazing.

3 comments:

Tyler said...

Wow-those pictures are beautiful!! I am jealous, I sure miss the mountains. I am glad that you are closer to family. Someday we'll get there...

Idaho Rob said...

That is an awesome moose!!! I am not going to show these pictures to the goats because they would get jealous. But... If y'all wanna take them for a month to live with you then we'll let ya.

Katie said...

Mike so glad for the blog address. I love blogging. I don't know that it is all that exciting and I should update it more than I do. Sounds like you and your lovely wife are having grand adventures this summer. Congrats on the job. You will love it and be so good at it. I wish there were more "yous" at the libraries around here. You always so kind and funny. --much love and well wishes on the new job. =0) Katie Ps watch out for those big moose they sneak up on you one almost walked in our automatic doors at my school last year.