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When immigrant laborers built it in the early 1900s, the Hahn’s Peak and Pacific Railway had bragging rights as the highest standard gauge railroad in the country at around 9,000 feet. 

Its railcars first hauled gold, then livestock, timber and coal, and soon mail and passengers between Colorado and Wyoming. The Monday, Wednesday and Friday trains ran south, while the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday trains went north. 

The corridor is much quieter today, with few signs to suggest its previous life as a buzzing sight of commerce. Now, bikers, runners, horseback riders and other non-motorized rovers will find a 21-mile stretch of solitude known as the Medicine Bow Rail Trail. 

The route snakes through large stands of aspen, fir, lodgepole and spruce, and passes by sagebrush meadows, ponds and swamps. Lake Owen marks one of its six trailheads, and there are several fire scars along the way, where blue skies silhouette burned trees.

A map of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail. (Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail)

Visitors have the Medicine Bow’s former Laramie District Ranger Clint Kyhl, U.S. Forest Service workers and Laramie citizens to thank for the trail’s 2001 transformation from an abandoned railway to a public-lands treasure. 

Throughout the year, Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail, a local non-profit, works to maintain and improve the trail. The organization also provides historical information, maps and tips for planning your own adventure on its website.

Maggie Mullen reports on state government and politics. Before joining WyoFile in 2022, she spent five years at Wyoming Public Radio.

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  1. I am so thankful to those that are forever preserving Wyoming’s history! Keep up the awesome and VERY important work!

    Reply
  2. Reply

  3. Thank you for highlighting this wonderful pathway. Just today, volunteers with the Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail were up on the route, clearing downfall on the final section on the north end. That meant removing 43 downed trees in just two miles of trail. If running the Rail Trail and looping around Lake Owen sounds like a worthwhile challenge, join us August 9 for the Med Bow Rail Marathon and Half Marathon. Proceeds go to trail maintenance.

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