Medicine Bow - Routt National Forests
Thunder Basin National Grassland

USDA Forest Service
Medicine Bow-Routt
National Forests,
Thunder Basin
National Grassland
2468 Jackson Street
Laramie, WY 82070
307-745-2300

Telephone for the
Hearing Impaired
307-745-2307

This is a two-bedroom log cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1937 to be the residence of the ranger for the LaPrele Ranger District. The cabin has six (6) beds, but there is room for up to four more cots in the bedrooms and living room. The maximum number of people who may stay is ten (10). There is a full bath, large kitchen and large living room with a stone fireplace. Although there is no electricity, there is a propane hot water heater, range and refrigerator. The kitchen is fully equipped, and there is firewood and coal available for the fireplace. For those extra-cold days or nights, there is a coal/wood burning furnace in the basement which is easy to use and will get the house VERY toasty. The only items you will need to stay at LaPrele are toiletries (towels), bedding (sleeping bags) and food. Everything else is provided (including toilet paper, cleaning supplies, paper towels and cooking gear.)

The cabin may be rented for just $60.00 per night, late June through mid-September (check www.reserveamerica.com for the specific rental season dates and availability.) In consideration of all users of the cabin and its historic value, we ask that you smoke your cigarettes or pipe outside and leave your pets at home.

The cabin is not universally accessible and requires several steps to climb to get into both doors.

Access

LaPrele Guard Station is an easy hour’s drive (40 miles) from Douglas, Wyoming, which also has the nearest full-service hospital. To get there, take Exit 140 off of I-25 to Douglas and turn right on River bend at the four-way stop. Take the next right after ¼ mile onto Esterbrook Rd. (which slips under the interstate.) Follow this for approximately one (1) mile to Chalk Buttes Rd. and turn right. Chalk Buttes Rd. “Ts” at the Cold Springs Rd. after approximately four (4) miles. Remain on the Cold Springs Rd. for approximately 20 miles of paved road, and another 14 miles of good gravel road, and you will find LaPrele Guard Station to the left of the road once you enter a narrow, forested canyon. In good conditions, any vehicle will easily get you to the cabin, but check the ranger station at 307-358-4690 for a road condition report before venturing out.

Attractions & Considerations

LaPrele Guard Station sites inside a very narrow forested canyon spiked with surrealistic rock outcroppings. You can expect to see deer nibbling on grass outside the cabin. You may also be lucky enough to see the occasional owl, eagle, elk, beaver and other assorted critters. More often you’ll hear owls hooting or elk bugling late into the evening or early in the morning. There are also black bear and mountain lion that roam in the area.

For those who plan on doing more than reading a good book while sitting in the sun on the front porch, there are several trails, motorized and non-motorized, nearby. You’ll need to drive to any of them. The closest is Twin Peaks trail, just three miles north on the Cold Springs road. Just across the road from the cabin is LaPrele Creek, a small stream that’s fun to explore and throw a fishing line into. Fishing is sketchy; however, so check with our office to see what condition the stream is in before packing all your fishing gear

Narrative

LaPrele Guard Station sits in the midst of the Laramie Range, which is western history central. The range teemed with traveling Native American tribes, then saw the near decimation of the beaver at the hands of the French Canadian trappers (note all of the French place names in the area.)

Once the trappers tapped out the furry resource, the homesteaders started moving in, which was an easy jaunt off of the Oregon Trail, which passed just south of Douglas.Laramie Peak to the east was the first mountain the migrants saw on their way west.

For those who decided to lay down roots in Douglas, the dry summers and heavy timber proved a frightening combination, so they asked the federal government for protection from forest fires.This came in the formation of the LaPrele Ranger District in the early 1930s.

The Civilian Conservation Corp were given the job of providing a place for the ranger to work out of, so a log office/residence was built in 1936, the house in 1937 and a barn and other outbuildings later.

The compound was used until the 1940s when several districts combined to form what is now the Douglas Ranger District. The entire compound is on the National Register of Historic Places and is an exemplary specimen of CCC construction and craftsmanship.