Snow Survey Cabin

The Snow Survey Cabin provides a rustic accommodation on the Snowy Range. Located just off the Snowy Range Scenic Byway at nearly 10,000 feet elevation, it is available year round — an excellent cabin for everything from warm summer evenings to winter snowmachining or cross country skiing. The one-room cabin is furnished with two sets of bunk beds and can accommodate up to four people. It is equipped with a propane cook stove and heater, solar lights, a table and chairs, cookware and basic cooking and eating utensils; if you use them, they need to be cleaned and put away. There is no indoor plumbing or running water — an outhouse with a vault toilet is located outside, and guests must bring their own supply of water for drinking, cooking and cleaning, though snow for melting is usually available in winter. Guests provide their own food, sleeping bags, lanterns or flashlights, pillows, towels, dish soap, matches, first aid kit, toilet paper and garbage bags. Garbage is pack in, pack out, and guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving. No pets are allowed within the building; outside they must be on leash or lead to protect wildlife, and cleaned up after. In winter, west access to the cabin is one mile from the upper chains-end gate, and a lower closure gate is six miles from the cabin. Winter visitors reach the cabin via snowmachine, skis or snowshoes. In the summer months a vast hiking trail system accessing the highest elevations of the Snowy Range extends from the cabin's back door. Hikers looking for a challenge can make the trek up Medicine Bow Peak at an elevation of 12,013 feet, or hike nearby Browns Peak or Sugarloaf Mountain. Beginning in late spring, fishing is available at many alpine lakes and streams, including the popular Mirror Lake day use site. Winter brings deep powder snow for the snowmobiler and cross-country skier. From valleys and canyons that rise steeply to jagged ridges, the Snowy Range boasts alpine lakes, wildflower meadows and a mixed forest of spruce, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir and aspen. At elevations of 9,000 to 12,000 feet it lives up to its name — snow can fall in the area during any month of the year. Wildlife viewing is abundant near the cabin, including elk, deer and moose, with migratory birds, squirrels and an occasional black bear in the forest. The range is transected by Wyoming Highway 130 between Laramie and Saratoga, the Snowy Range Scenic Byway, along which many campgrounds, picnic areas and hiking trails are located; the small Snowy Range Ski Resort is accessible from it as well, though portions of Highway 130 are not completely accessible during the winter.