Laramie Peak Is the highest and most prominent peak in the
Laramie Range
The Laramie Mountains are a range of moderately high peaks on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S states of Wyoming and Colorado. The range is the northernmost extension of the line of the ranges along the eastern side of the Rock ...
of Wyoming. With a peak elevation of ,
it is the only peak in the Laramie Range to exceed an elevation of . It can be seen from great distances from both sides of the Laramie Range including from around 100 miles (160 km) away at the top of the
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Scotts Bluff National Monument is located west of the City of Gering in western Nebraska, United States. This National Park Service site protects over 3,000 acres of historic overland trail remnants, mixed-grass prairie, rugged badlands, toweri ...
in
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
and in the
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
towns of
Wheatland,
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
* Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
,
Rock River, and immediately outside the cities of
Laramie and
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
.
Name
The mountain was named for
Jacques La Ramee, a
French-Canadian fur trader who lived in the area in the 1820s and who was found dead at the Laramie River.
History
Laramie Peak was an important landmark for the settlers on the
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
and the
Mormon Trail. After reaching
Scotts Bluff
Scotts Bluff National Monument is located west of the City of Gering in western Nebraska, United States. This National Park Service site protects over 3,000 acres of historic overland trail remnants, mixed-grass prairie, rugged badlands, toweri ...
the top of the hill was visible at the horizon. For more than one week the hill guided the people on the track and signal the end of the relatively flat part of the way, reaching the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
Mark Twain wrote 1871 in his book ''Roughing It'' about the hill: ''"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. He was thirty or forty miles away, in reality, but he only seemed removed a little beyond the low ridge at our right."''
[ Mark Twain, 1871, Roughing It, Chapter 9]
Usage
A trail starting at the Friend Park Campground leads over a distance of about 5 Miles to the top of the hill. It rises from 7200 feet elevation to 10276 feet. On top, several antennas, containers for transmitters and a helicopter platform are installed.
See also
*
List of mountain peaks of North America
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
**
List of mountain peaks of the United States
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All su ...
References
External links
Mountains of Albany County, Wyoming
Mountains of Wyoming
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