Comments on: A “Treasure Hunt” of the Weird and Wonderful at Pole Mountain, WY

By: Christine

Christine — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:14:34 +0000

Rodger, Thanks for the site. I’ve been hiking Curt Gowdy all summer (my goal to hike every trail before school starts), but now you have given me so many more reasons to hike Medican Bow NF. I hike for exercise and to be outdoors. When I have things to explore, goals to get to I do so much better at getting out a couple of times every week. Thanks for all the new goals. I look forward to more posts about the area. BTW I live just a short distance from Woodhouse and you’ve given me more reasons to explore the area further! Looks like they will be great falls hikes as there is not much shade.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:24:28 +0000

do you know where the water fall is ? i thought it by the devils playground. thanks

By: Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:01:46 +0000

This is a cool site! I like these kinds of things. Im at Wyotech right now (bad connotation), and enjoy driving up in these hills, and taking the motorcycle out for a ride in these remote regions. I was driving around up on HJ road about a week ago, and saw what I assume is the Merritt Hill bunker form HJ road. I braved the snow and wheeled myself up there and was pleasantly surprised to find this bunker. When the snow melts, and for the 1 month of summer here in Laramie, im going to do some more exploring, get a cheap GPS and try to find the rest of these places. Or learn how to use a map.
Thanks for posting these up!

By: Roger Ludwig

Roger Ludwig — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:29:22 +0000

Hi Steve – Glad you’re enjoying the area. For maps the place to begin is definitely the Forest Service’s Medicine Bow National Forest Map. It covers the wonderful and bewildering network of roads in Pole Mountain as well as the Snowy Range and Sierra Madres.

You can buy one from the Forest Service in Laramie by calling (307) 745-2300. Ask them to mail you the free pamphlet maps on Turtle Rock, Headquarters Trail and the cross country ski trails (which can also be hiked).

You may want more detail. For that the only choice is the two USGS maps, Sherman Mountains East Quadrangle and Sherman Mountains West Quadrangle. It’s probably easiest to get them from the internet at http://topomaps.usgs.gov/ Hit the finding and ordering USGS maps button. Sadly some of the newer trails on not on these.

Marc Smith has a book trail guide, Hiking Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest, which covers Pole Mountain as well as the rest of the forest. It’s readily available in Cheyenne and Laramie book stores.

For Curt Gowdy State Park, they have a trail map that is downloadable at http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Site/SiteInfo.asp?siteID=4 Click on “trails brochure”. I think they will also mail you one or they may be available when you pay your entrance fee at the park gate.

Have fun!

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 02:48:12 +0000

Very interesting information you have provided. I just moved to the area and discovered the beautiful Pole Mountains today, Hiked for 3 hours over at Curt Gowdy. Noticed trailheads off 210 and want to do some exploring. Can you recommend somewhere to acquire trail maps for the area?

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:34:59 +0000

Roger,

I wonder if the datum needs to be changed (don’t know how much it would be off if a different datum was used). The website doesn’t state what datum is used. I would guess it would be NAD-27

By: Roger Ludwig

Roger Ludwig — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:13:43 +0000

Help! I went out to locate these with a GPS and had no success. One leads to a place just south of Happy Jack. There is one unusual thing nearby, the fence post was painted yellow then repainted white while all other posts are unpainted.

The other is a bit remote, a 1/3 mile walk from the nearest four wheel drive road. Couldn’t find anything.

Any body have any ideas? Roger

By: Roger Ludwig

Roger Ludwig — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:07:19 +0000

Stay tuned for the next installment. I found this last fall, tromping through the brush. The spring flows nicely.

Roger

By: Frank Mellblom

Frank Mellblom — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 02:45:55 +0000

My brother and I explored Pole Mountain from 1966 to 70′s college days at U.W. One interesting site is shown as “Artillery Spring” on the older maps. I have a photo of it when it was neatly rocked in with a nice outlet pipe. I haven’t been back for years,but hope to again pretty soon! P.S. Hi to Jim Arehart above, I was in East High class of ’69 in Cheyenne.

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:44:50 +0000

Possible location of sites Randy was talking about from http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/station_book/P_NAME.html

Pole Mountain
Code: PM-WY
41.2075 -105.3608 2469.0
Network: LRSM
Status: Closed

Pole Mountain
Code: PMW
41.2100 -105.3347 2440.0
Network: BKN
Status: Closed

The lat/long look about right