Rawah Lakes
Posted: April 4th, 2009 | Author: Roger Ludwig | Filed under: Colorado | Tags: Medicine Bow Mountains, Rawah Wilderness, Roosevelt National Forest | No Comments »Highlights: An overnight circle-on-a-stick backpack into the high alpine country we see on the far southwestern horizon from Cheyenne, Wyoming: the southern Medicine Bows. Here, above tree line, twelve pristine lakes sparkle in the shadow of North and South Rawah Peaks. Rawah is pronounced Ray’-wah and is a native American word meaning “wild place.”
Location: The Medicine Bow range south of the border in Colorado
Elevations: West Branch trailhead 8, 580’; high point at Grassy Pass, 11,220’
Distance: 19.3 miles without the spur trails
Maps: Rawah Wilderness by Mountain Jay Media; Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests; USGS quad Rawah Lakes; Roosevelt National Forest pamphlet “Rawah Wilderness”
Guide: Raymond Ave’s Backcountry Adventure Guide to Colorado’s Rawah Wilderness
is an excellent guide to it’s trails, history and geography.
Trailhead: From Cheyenne, take I-80 west 48 miles to Laramie exit 311. Go southwest on WY 230 24 miles to Woods Landing. Then take WY 10 south 34 miles (In Colorado it is County Road 103) until you come to the well-marked West Branch parking area. (An alternative would be to go to Ft. Collins, go west on CO 14 then north on CR 103.)
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