page_title: Medicine Bow Peak
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Medicine Bow Peak / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View from Medicine Bow Peak in the Snowy Range, Wyoming in July 2017
context_page_description: Medicine Bow Peak is the highest peak in the Snowy Range, a part of the Medicine Bow Mountains, about 35 miles west of Laramie, Wyoming. It lies within Medicine Bow National Forest and is the highest point in southern Wyoming. The summit lies in extreme western Albany County, but the mountain's lower reaches stretch westward into eastern Carbon County. The summit is 12,018 feet high and is visible from Snowy Range Pass, elevation 10,847 ft, on Wyoming Highway 130, a Wyoming Scenic Byway. The most commonly used trail to the peak is a four-mile hike featuring switch-backs and a great deal of loose rock. The trails to the peak are usually open from early June to mid October.
  The mountain is usually covered with snow from October to late June. During winter the peak can be reached by snowshoe or by skiing. Summer conditions can be extreme, with frequent thunderstorms and hail during the afternoons.
context_section_description: Little is known of the mountain's history before the John C. Frémont expeditions of 1833 - 1834. Native American tribes such as the Northern Arapahoe, Northern Cheyenne, Lakota,
  Ute, and Eastern Shoshone were known to have either inhabited the surrounding lowlands or used nearby canyons and mountain passes as travel routes.
  In 1955, United Airlines Flight 409 crashed into the side of the mountain; there were no survivors. Engines and other fragments of the plane are still present at the base of the cliff. During the recovery process, several additional access routes were established, which are still in use today.
  A memorial stone and plaque were placed near the crash site, known as "Disaster Wall", in August 2001.
caption: View from the summit of Medicine Bow Peak
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