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Medicine Bow Mountains

 
Dictionary: Med·i·cine Bow Mountains   (mĕd'ĭ-sĭn bō') pronunciation
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A range of the eastern Rocky Mountains in southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado. It rises to 3,664 m (12,013 ft) at Medicine Bow Peak in south-central Wyoming.

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Medicine Bow Mountains
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Northwest section of the Front Range, in the central Rocky Mountains, U.S. Averaging a height of 10,000 ft (3,050 m), the mountains run southeast for about 100 mi (160 km) from Medicine Bow, Wyo., to Cameron Pass, Colo., just northwest of Rocky Mountain National Park. The highest summit, Medicine Bow Peak, reaches 12,014 ft (3,662 m). The name refers to the practices of local Indians, who collected wood for bows in the area and held ceremonial medicine dances.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Medicine Bow Mountains
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Medicine Bow Mountains, outlying eastern range of the Rocky Mts., SE Wyo. and N Colo. It extends from Medicine Bow town, Wyo., NW of Laramie, southward c.100 mi (160 km) to Cameron Pass, Colo. Peaks include Medicine Bow Peak (12,013 ft/3,662 m) and Elk Mt. (11,156 ft/3,400 m). Much of the area is in Medicine Bow National Forest.

Wikipedia: Medicine Bow Mountains
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The 12,013 feet (3,661 m) high summit of Medicine Bow Peak overlooks Lake Marie about 35 miles west of Laramie, Wyoming

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For the Snowy Range of Australia, see Snowy Mountains.

The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend for 100-mile (160 km)[1] from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. Wyoming's northern portion of the range is often referred to as The Snowy Range or "The Snowies". From the northern end of Colorado's Never Summer Mountains, the Medicine Bow mountains extend north from Cameron Pass along the border between Larimer and Jackson counties in Colorado and northward into south central Wyoming. In Wyoming, the range sits west of Laramie, in Albany and Carbon counties to the route of the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Interstate 80. The mountains often serve as a symbol for the city of Laramie.

The highest peak in the range is Clark Peak (12,951 feet), located in Rawah Wilderness and is along the southern end of the range in Northern Colorado. Much of the range is located within the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. The highest peak on the Wyoming side is in fact Medicine Bow Peak (12,013). The range is drained along is western flank by the Michigan and Canadian rivers, tributaries of the North Platte in North Park. On its eastern flank it is drained by the Laramie River, another tributary of the North Platte.

The Medicine Bow Mountains resulted from continental compression during the Laramide Orogeny. Beginning ~70 million years ago, the Rockies began uplifting along thrust faults that broke up the Precambrian granite of Earth's crust. By 50 million years ago, all of Wyoming's major mountain ranges were elevated and the major basins defined. Rocks exposed along the flanks and peaks of the Medicine Bow Mountains span the Precambrian to modern, with the peaks composed of 2.4-2.0 billion year old Medicine Peak Quartzite. This rock was once a shallow marine sand deposit that has since been compressed and heated during burial, forming the metamorphic rock, quartzite. What may be traces of multicellular animals are preserved in this rock, making it of particular interest to paleontologists.

Wildlife abounds in these mountains, with mule deer, elk, moose, black bear, mountain lions, coyotes, marmots, Richardson's ground squirrels, bobcats, and lynx as well as a tremendous varierty of birds being visible even from the road. Anglers enjoy fishing for brook and rainbow trout as well as grayling and golden trout. Flyfishing is generally the most productive method, but small spinning outfits are popular as well.

This mountain range is also home to some of the remains of a Douglas DC-4 aircraft, operated under United Airlines Flight 409. The aircraft crashed into Medicine Bow Peak on October 6, 1955, killing all 66 people on board (63 passengers, 3 crew members.)

See also

References

  1. ^ USGS GNIS: Medicine Bow Mountains

External links


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Coordinates: 40°49′42″N 106°4′40″W / 40.82833°N 106.07778°W / 40.82833; -106.07778


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Medicine Bow Mountains".  Read more