Unit 13

Doane Peak and Blackhall Mountain provide high-elevation reference points for navigation and distant glassing. Hog Park Reservoir and Brownlee Reservoir anchor water and open country features. The string of named parks—Beaver Dam Park, Dead Horse Park, Long Park, Big Creek Park—creates recognizable meadow systems scattered through the unit that serve as travel corridors and glassing points.

These parks, typically 0.5-2 miles across, appear frequently enough to break up the forest and offer hunters natural focal points for planning movement and morning positions.

The terrain rolls across upper-elevation country between 7,100 and nearly 11,000 feet, with most ground sitting in the 8,000-9,500 foot band. This elevation zone transitions between high-country parks—open meadows and grasslands ideal for elk movement—and moderate timber coverage of lodgepole pine, spruce, and fir. The rolling topography means elevation changes are constant but not extreme; you're climbing through timbered slopes into open basins and back again frequently.

Habitat is mixed rather than concentrated, offering both feeding meadows and bedding cover within a day's hunting.

About 164 miles of roads thread through Unit 13, providing fair access without saturation. Wyoming Highways 70 and 230 frame the unit's boundaries and offer logical approach routes. The road network likely concentrates pressure along main drainages and park systems accessible by vehicle, creating pockets of reduced hunting pressure on foot beyond easy driving distance.

Moderate terrain complexity (6.6/10) means the rolling country isn't brutal to navigate, but it's broken enough that disciplined hunters willing to hike ridges and check secondary parks can find quieter ground.

Unit 13 defines its boundaries along the Continental Divide, starting where it crosses the Wyoming-Colorado state line and running north along the divide to Wyoming Highway 70, then east to Highway 230, southeast back to the state line, and west along Colorado's border back to the divide. The unit sits entirely in the Medicine Bow Mountains and Sierra Madre range, straddling Wyoming's highest terrain in this region. The layout creates a natural box between major highways and the state boundary, with the Continental Divide serving as the dominant geographic spine.

Water is present but not abundant, making knowledge of reliable sources important. The East Fork Encampment River and Hog Park Creek are the primary drainages, with several tributaries (North Soldier Creek, Hell Creek, Willow Creek, Cushman Creek) providing supplemental flow. Multiple reservoirs—Golden Clover, Brownlee, Hog Park, Pearl, Rollman, and others—indicate developed water infrastructure, though seasonal flow and snow-dependent reliability should be considered.

Spring conditions vary, and early-season hunters should confirm water status before entering the high country.

This is solid elk country stratified by elevation. Early season takes advantage of high parks where elk graze in the morning before retreating to timbered slopes; glass the open meadows at dawn and plan moves that check timber edges and creek bottoms by mid-morning. Rut hunting focuses on the timbered drainages and darker timber patches where bulls congregate.

Late season typically pushes elk lower, but portions of Unit 13 stay huntable through the season given its extent and mixed habitat. Water sources are scattered enough that elk movement keys on reliable creek drainages and reservoirs—plan your glassing and travel around Hog Park and Encampment drainages and the reservoir systems.