Laramie Peak

Laramie Peak, from Interstate 25

The Laramie Peak is a mountain in eastern Wyoming in Albany County in the U.S. and is located in the northern part of the Medicine Bow National Forest. He is with 3132 meters the highest point of the mountain chain of the Laramie Mountains, belonging to the Rocky Mountains. The mountain is in the possession of the state.

Location

The mountain is located about 50 kilometers south of Douglas, near the village Esterbrook. On a clear day it can be seen from the about 190 kilometers away, Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska from the north and about 70 kilometers from the city Rock River from the south. The outflow from the region via the North Platte River, which flows across the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico.

Geology

The result are the Laramie Mountains in raising the North American plate in front of about 72-40 million years ago. Geology of the region Main article: Lara mixer orogeny.

Name

The name of the mountain comes from Jacques La Ramee, a French-Canadian fur trader and mountain man who lived in the 1820s in the area. His body was found at the mouth of the Laramie River. In addition to the river and the mountain are other places like the city of Laramie, Fort Laramie, and Laramie County named after him.

History

Laramie Peak was a well known landmark for the settlers who moved west on the Trail Mormon Trail and the Oregon. From about the Scotts Bluff Laramie Peak was visible on the horizon. The settlers followed here on their trek to the Platte River and the North Platte River in Nebraska to the east of Wyoming. The mountain signaled the end of the relatively flat path and the beginning of the ascent into the mountains and thus the arduous part of the journey in the Rocky Mountains. The path led around the Laramie Peak, and for about a week accompanied its summit on the horizon the travelers.

Mark Twain wrote in his book Through thick and thin over the mountain: "We passed Fort Laramie in the night, and on the seventh morning out we found ourselves in the Black Hills, with Laramie Peak at our elbow ( apparently ) looming vast and solitary -. a deep, dark, rich indigo blue in hue, so portentously did the old colossus frown under his beetling brows of storm -cloud Hey what thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only removed Seemed a little beyond the low ridge at our right. "

Accessibility

The Interstate 25 highway allowed between Casper and Cheyenne a good view of the mountain. He can be contacted by Douglas direction Esterbrook, mostly unpaved roads. About 10 kilometers south of Esterbrook is the Friend Park Campground campsite, which can be used as a base for hikes to the mountain. From here, a well constructed hiking trail that is maintained by the United States Forest Service to the summit. It has a length of about eight kilometers and overcomes a height difference of about one kilometer.

Use

On the top of the mountain there is a helicopter landing pad, a few small huts and different antenna systems, including a GSM transmitter, an amplifier of the former radio station KWBI ( 91.3 MHz ) of the Colorado Christian University and other antenna installations. The antenna systems are in poor condition and currently not in use (summer 2010).