Area 59 covers the upper North Platte and Encampment River drainages on the eastern flank of the Sierra Madre—heavy-timber high country between Encampment and the Continental Divide. Elevations run from about 7,000 feet on the river valleys to over 11,000 feet on the Sierra Madre crest. The Encampment River cuts a dramatic canyon out of the high country, and the Encampment River Wilderness (about 11,000 acres) protects a slice of it. The forest is mature lodgepole pine and aspen on the lower slopes, transitioning into Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and lodgepole through the mid-elevations, with alpine meadow above timberline on the highest crest. The Sierra Madre catches more Pacific moisture than most of southern Wyoming and the timber is correspondingly denser and wetter. Medicine Bow National Forest covers the country with the Encampment River Wilderness as the protected core. WY-70 (the Battle Highway) crosses from Encampment over the Continental Divide—closes with snow, sometimes early. Forest roads off WY-70 climb into the timber from the east. Encampment and Riverside are tiny twin towns with gas, the Bear Trap Cafe, and not much else; Saratoga 20 miles north is the larger supply hub. Cell service drops past town. Sierra Madre country produces solid elk because the range gets less name recognition than the Snowies or the Wyoming Range and pressure stays manageable. Mule deer use the lower aspens and meadow edges. Snow can shut WY-70 by late October.