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What: Medicine Bow Peak - 12,014' - Gap Ridge
Where: Medicine Bow National Forest, WY
Who: aliciaf & jmc5040
Stats: ~5 miles RT, 1,300' vert
The original plan was to take one of my friends up Longs Peak Saturday 8/6/16. She and I had made it to the boulder field in 2015, but had to turn around when she was showing signs of altitude sickness before crossing the Keyhole. All week leading up to our trip, we were looking at the weather. By Thursday afternoon, we called it. Longs was a no go. The monsoon moving in to Colorado just would not make for a safe ascent up Longs. Jordan (jmc5040) and I had the dogs all scheduled for boarding Friday night & Saturday during the day so we didn't want to do a simple, quick hike close to Denver. But where could we go? Jordan said, "Well, we could just drive north... like to Wyoming?" I laughed. No way he was serious. It seemed crazy and far for a day trip. But then I started actually thinking about it and realized Wyoming mountains were within reach for a day trip. A quick Google search popped up Medicine Bow Peak - the highest peak in the Snowy Mountain Range. The routes listed on SummitPost were all fairly easy Class 1/2 walk ups. Not our favorite type of hiking. But, we could get out a least and enjoy some nice weather. It was the next day when we stumbled upon an account of someone taking the East Ridge ("Gap Ridge") up to the summit that he rated Class 3 (SummitPost Link Here). Jordan did a little more research, looked at the topo and it was set. We'd head out to Wyoming at 4am Saturday morning to do a fun Class 3 climb up Gap Ridge to Medicine Bow Peak.
We arrived to the Lewis Lake trailhead around 7:20am, paid our $5 fee, and started getting ready. Only a handful of cars in the lot (more than half were from Colorado!). Great views from the TH and also well-kept restrooms. Once we were all booted up, we headed East out of the lot towards South & North Gap Lakes. The sign at the TH says 3/4 mile to North Gap Lake, but we calculated ~1.45 miles to the saddle between South & North Gap Lakes. Then we followed switchbacks down toward North Gap Lake. Once you arrive to North Gap Lake, you will see two ridges to your left. The first of the two ridges is apparently a little easier and more mellow. The second ridge is the more "fun" one and the ridge we took. We descended all the way down to North Gap Lake, skirted it on the left, crossed a short snow field and hooked a left pretty much right at the piece of land that juts out into the lake. It is about 0.3 miles from the saddle between the lakes to the base of the ridge.
View from Lewis Lake TH. Summit is to the left in the cloud. Take the trail to South & North Gap Lakes. North Gap Lake. Descend and head toward the piece of land that juts out into the lake.
After turning left, our main goal was to reach the bottom of the rock rib you'll be able to see. The talus and boulders underneath this rib that you climb up are very loose and large. We were a little nervous and uneasy about this section and tread very lightly as we ascended. We were very careful about choosing our route so as to stay on what appeared to be the most stable of this rock.
Ascend up this talus/boulders, aiming towards the large rock rib Looking down to North Gap Lake
We finally reached the bottom of the rock rib (just to its right). From here there are two options. You can either go up the Class 3 gully to the right of this rib (not sure of rock quality or stability), or you can go right up the rib all the way to the summit ridge. We chose to go up the rib. From here, we just picked the best way up for our comfort levels. Jordan chose some difficult Class 4 (could have been low Class 5?) lines, while I spent a little more time looking for Class 3 or easy Class 4 lines. If I came to a section that looked too close to Class 5 for me, skirting to the left usually gave me an easier way up. The rock once on the rib was pretty solid, though there were some spots that were a bit flaky and loose. We tested everything, as we usually do, and found only a couple places on the rib that required us to find a different way due to questionable rock. It was a FUN climb up with plenty of ledges to stop, rest, take photos, etc.
Arriving at the rock rib, looking up the route Right of the rock rib, a Class 3 gully is another ascent option Heading up the first section of the rock rib Next section to tackle Looking back on the route from North Gap Lake thus far Jordan ascending a Class 4 section on the ridge
After approximately an hour, we reached the top of the rib and looked across the flat summit plateau towards the summit. It was about 1.3 miles to the summit still, with the majority of the elevation gain behind us already. From the top of the rib, we just aimed towards a section of the plateau where the surface turned back to rock. The majority of the initial part of this section had short scrubby-type bushes that we had to walk over. Basically, try to follow the ridge line. Once back on the talus, we boulder-hopped our way across the ridge, up and over some bumps and a false summit. Once over the false summit, we hooked up with the standard route and it was a quick 5 minute walk up to the true summit. Overall it took us 2.5 hours to reach the summit at a moderate-quick pace.
Topping out from rib, looking at remaining route to summit Looking back across the summit ridge. We topped out just to looker's right of that Point (Point 11,761) Us on the summit
To descend, we took the standard route back down to Lewis Lake, which is a quick 1.6 mile scenic trip. You'll be able to see Lewis Lake and the TH from the summit, so just make sure to head that way. There is one trail split about 1/3 of the way down that is not signed. Stay left. The main junction a little further down has plenty of signs to point you in the right direction to Lewis Lake. But it's pretty simple... just stay left. Hooking right will take you towards Lake Marie and Mirror Lake.
Overall, this was a GREAT hike and might be one of my favorites. It took us about 4 hours round trip, which included a 30 minute or so rest on the summit to chat with other hikers. This route had everything - a multitude of lakes, wildflowers, snow, boulder hopping, a Class 3/4 ridge, great scenery in general, and a wonderful trail to descend back to the car. Highly recommended if you find yourself in WY or if the weather in CO isn't looking that great!
Wildflowers, and looking back to the summit (left) Overview of route
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Did Medicine Bow the same way and got a great glissade just below the summit in that basin! Beautiful mountain range and basin. A great place to do a traverse of the range!
Ashley - It's so great!
screeman57 - I don't think many people know about this route, which is mainly why I wanted to post a trip report.
dillonsarnelli - yes! Jordan would definitely be down.
boudreaux - Not much snow left right now for glissading. But such a fun route!
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