null
- 24.2 mi
- round trip
- 4,657 ft
- climb
- 8,794 ft
- high point
- Out and back
- route
- Jun–Sep
- best months
Is null open right now?
Alert in the area
The Forest Service lists an alert for Medicine Wheel Ranger District.
Forest Special Order 02-02-03-25-05 Shell Falls Interpretive Site Closure
Agency alert covering Medicine Wheel Ranger District · Order 02-02-03-25-05 · USFS · Medicine Wheel Ranger District
As of · Source: USFS · Medicine Wheel Ranger District. Agencies don't list every closure — check before you go.
This is a hard out-and-back hike in the Medicine Wheel Ranger District of Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming, about 6.7 miles from the town of Shell. The route is 24.2 miles long, with a one-way elevation gain of 4,657 feet, from a low of about 4,743 feet to a high of about 8,794 feet. Summer is the most comfortable time to go. Typical averages from a nearby weather station at Burgess Junction, which sits a few hundred feet lower than the high point, show July highs around 71°F with lows near 42°F. Winter is much colder, with January highs around 30°F and lows near 8°F. The Dry Horse Trail lies just 0.1 mile away, and the Sunlight Cutoff is about 1.1 miles off. The Elkhorn Trail is roughly 3.1 miles away, and paddlers can reach Beaver Creek about 5.8 miles from the trail.
- Dry Horse TrailHiking0.1 mi
- SUNLIGHT CUTOFFHiking1.1 mi
- Elkhorn TrailHiking3.1 mi
- BeefHiking3.9 mi
- COTTONWOOD CREEKHiking4 mi
- Beaver CreekCanoeing5.8 mi
Shell CreekCanoeingPhoto: Clayton B. Fraser, Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)6.3 mi- Road 10 RocksRock climbing9.8 mi
Source: Roamze catalog (indexable pages within 10 miles, PostGIS distance)
HUDSON CREEKHiking · ~16 min drivePhoto: Bas van Oorschot, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- Elkhorn TrailHiking · ~5 min drive
- ElkhornHiking · ~7 min drive
Prune CreekHiking · ~29 min drivePhoto: David Haile, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- Dry Horse TrailHiking · ~5 min drive
- Grouse CreekHiking · ~8 min drive
- SUNLIGHT CUTOFFHiking · ~2 min drive
- BeefHiking · ~7 min drive
- West ForkHiking · ~21 min drive
- COTTONWOOD CREEKHiking · ~7 min drive
Also worth it near here
- Shell BenchMountain biking · ~7 min drive
Post CreekRock climbing · ~8 min drivePhoto: rharrison, CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Flickr)
Shell FallsWaterfall · ~11 min drivePhoto: Liz Lawley, CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)- Shell CreekCanoeing · ~11 min drivePhoto: Clayton B. Fraser, Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Best time to visit null
Best months: June–September. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
30° / 8°
Feb
29° / 7°
Mar
35° / 13°
Apr
41° / 18°
May
50° / 28°
Jun
61° / 35°
Jul
71° / 42°
Aug
70° / 41°
Sep
61° / 33°
Oct
46° / 23°
Nov
36° / 15°
Dec
29° / 8°
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Burgess Junction, WY, 14.4 mi away at 8,060 ft. The station sits about 700 ft lower than this place, so expect it a little cooler here. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
Map and trail data © OpenStreetMap contributors
