WLM
Sand Lake
| history
Lodge
Article & Photography by
& courtesy Rebecca Walsh, Just Trails
I
f the walls of the cabins which were once
part of the Sand Lake Lodge could talk they
would tell tales of children swimming, boating
and fishing in Sand Lake. They would share
stories of families riding horses, shooting
guns, hiking, watching birds, square dancing on
summer nights and snowmobiling, snowshoeing
and cross-country skiing in the winter.
The Sand Lake Lodge was once a
popular tourist destination tucked deep
into the scenic Snowy Range Mountains
in the Medicine Bow National Forest.
Now all that remains of the abandoned
Sand Lake Lodge are a dozen or so
old log cabins in various states of decay.
Some are littered with old tables and
rusty bed frames. Others are on the verge
of collapsing and some show signs of
electricity that was once run by a onecylinder diesel generator.
In the first half of the 1900s it was not
uncommon for people to find Native
American artifacts such as arrowheads
in the area around Sand Lake. The
arrowheads could be from any number
of tribes but were most likely Shoshone,
Arapaho or Ute. They were probably
hunting elk in the same area as many
modern day hunters.
From what we’ve been able to learn, the
Sand Lake Lodge was built in the 1920s.
It might have started out as a Tie Camp.
As America began to view the mountains
as a place for recreation, Sand Lake
Lodge began to draw tourists from near
and far.
The resort started out with a few cabins
and expanded. Eventually a large two
story lodge was built complete with a
dining room, kitchen and eight to ten
rooms. This building was ultimately
condemned and destroyed; now all that
remains is a concrete slab.
Through research and the University of
Wyoming’s American Heritage Center
and comments on our website (justtrails.
com) we’ve been able to piece together
bits and pieces of the story of the lodge,
some of the people who stayed there, and
even a glimpse of what life was like for
www.wyolifestyle.com
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