Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest - Colorado

Explore an archipelago of Rocky Mountain forests in Wyoming and Colorado. With 2.2 million acres of wilderness, 12,000-foot mountain peaks, abundant bird life and the best trout fishing in the west, the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is an outdoorsman's dream.

Named for the Native American ritual of bow-making, which was often accompanied by a ceremonial powwow for curing disease, the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest has diverse topography consisting of high plateaus, rolling foothills and mountains with elevations exceeding 13,000 feet. Visitors to Medicine Bow - Routt National Forest can go on adventures in 4 wilderness areas called Never Summer, Sarvis Creek, Flat Tops and Mount Zirkel, which all offer superb hiking opportunities through vast stands of aspen and conifer and towering rock sentinels like the 12,180-foot Mt. Zirkel. Fishermen will love the Platte River, filled with trout, and there are wonderful rock climbing opportunities on the sheer walls of the Vedauwoo and LaBonte Canyon. Nature lovers and bird watchers should keep their eyes peeled in the alpine sections of the forest which are home to the peregrine falcon, bald eagle, osprey, black bear, bobcat, coyote, wild turkey, chipmunk and squirrel. With all this as well as mountain lakes and ski areas, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is a purely natural adventure.