Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests

Spanning southeastern Wyoming and northwestern Colorado, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests cover 2.2 million acres across three major mountain ranges: the Medicine Bow Mountains, the Sierra Madre, and the Park Range. The Snowy Range in the Medicine Bow division features Medicine Bow Peak at 12,013 feet, with a spectacular alpine scenic byway climbing past Mirror Lake and through wildflower meadows to 10,847-foot Snowy Range Pass. The Savage Run and Platte River Wilderness areas protect remote canyons, lodgepole pine forests, and high-elevation grasslands in the Wyoming division. The Colorado Routt division near Steamboat Springs encompasses the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, a 160,648-acre alpine paradise of granite peaks, cascading streams, and over 70 named lakes along the Continental Divide. The Thunder Basin National Grassland, administered jointly with the forest, preserves 572,000 acres of shortgrass prairie supporting pronghorn, swift fox, and one of the largest prairie dog complexes in the West. Year-round recreation ranges from world-class powder skiing at Steamboat Springs to fishing on the North Platte River, rock climbing at Vedauwoo, and some of the finest snowmobiling terrain in the Rocky Mountain region.