Area 78 covers the southern Wyoming Range between LaBarge and the upper Green River drainage. Elevations run from about 7,000 feet on the lower forest fringes to over 10,500 feet on the high crest. The forest is mature lodgepole pine and aspen on the lower slopes, transitioning into Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir, and whitebark pine at higher elevations, with alpine meadow above timberline on the highest ridges. The country is more open and less dramatic than the central Wyoming Range to the north—rolling timbered ridges with broad meadows and aspen parks rather than glaciated cirques. The South Cottonwood, Cottonwood, and LaBarge Creek drainages cut through. The proposed Wyoming Range Wilderness designation has been a long-running political conversation; for now most of the country is unprotected forest open to motorized access. Bridger-Teton National Forest dominates. Forest roads off WY-235 (LaBarge to Cokeville) and US-189 provide access. LaBarge is barely a town—gas and not much else; Big Piney is bigger; Pinedale is the real supply hub. Cell service drops past town. Elk in the timber and meadow margins, mule deer in the aspen pockets. The southern Wyoming Range sees less pressure than the country north because the access is more inconvenient. Grizzly expansion is reaching this country; bears are increasingly part of the experience.