Savage Run, Medicine Bow National Forest, WY
Posted: July 26th, 2006 | Author: Roger Ludwig | Filed under: Wyoming | Tags: backpacking, Hiking, Medicine Bow National Forest, Savage Run, Savage Run Wilderness, Southeast Wyoming | No Comments »Highlights: A walk across the length of the 1st Wilderness Area in the Medicine Bows, established in 1978. The trail passes through three distinct areas. The first is through one of the few remaining old growth lodgepole forests in the area with huge trees and a park-like savannah in between. The second crosses some large wet meadows, filled with sunshine and life. The third and final is a long ramble along the tumbling Savage Run as it makes it’s way through the deeply forested, v-shaped valley.
Location: On the western slope of the Medicine Bow Mountains.
Elevations: Trailhead 9,400′, Forest Boundary 7,725′
Distance: 9 miles from end to end, one way
Maps: Medicine Bow National Forest, USGS Overlook Hill & Keystone quads
Guide: Marc Smith’s Hiking Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest – Third Edition
Trailhead: From Laramie take WY 130 west to WY 11 south to Albany. Here WY 11 becomes FS 500. Continue west about 14 miles on this long gravel road past Rob Roy Reservoir to FS 500.3A. Turn to the south and continue 1 ½ miles along this rocky track to the trailhead and parking. A high clearance rig is advisable for this last bit. Cars can park just off the road.
The Hike: The trail begins in the desolation of a clear cut but then steps into a magical forest primeval. This is the way the Medicine Bows must have looked when the first trappers entered the Native Americans’ world, before the loggers claimed it as their own. Majestic lodgepole pines are widely spaced, the floor open, the brush cleared by fires that barely licked the trees. Take some time to wander in these woods.
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