Perched atop a rocky knoll along the Snowy Range Scenic Byway in the Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming, the Libby Flats Observation Area rises nearly 11,000 feet above sea level.
Its weathered stone wall, turret facade and steep wooden staircase lead to a platform where visitors can look out at the Snowy Range to the north and the Laramie Valley to the south.
It looks more like what’s left of the ruins of a Medieval castle than a modern attraction.
For Laramie photographer David Peel, it's been a source of fascination for much of the last half-century.
"It's like an old ancient structure," Peel said. "Your mind kind of starts making up some fancy histories about it.”
Peel said its weathered stone and isolated perch above the tree line remind him of places far from Wyoming — Ireland, old European ruins and the kinds of structures that are much older than the observatory.
The Mystery Of The Tower
The site is managed by the Medicine Bow National Forest and was approved in 2024 as a $5-per-vehicle day-use recreation site.
It’s also not ancient. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, according to F.E. Warren Air Force Base.
Aaron Voos, public affairs specialist for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland, said U.S. Forest Service maps mark the location as an "observation point" as early as 1956 in its records.
Engineering blueprints from 1959 show plans for a parking area, footpath, restroom and the stone observation tower visitors see today, said Voos.
The overlook typically opens with the Snowy Range Scenic Byway each spring and remains accessible through the summer and fall before winter snow closes the road.
Where The Stars Take Over
Peel said he has spent countless nights at Libby Flats photographing the Milky Way, auroras, and sunrises.
The high elevation and lack of light pollution create some of the darkest skies in Wyoming for photographers.
"Up in the Snowies, it's nearly pristine," Peel said, adding that the tower is one of his favorite places to take photos.
On moonless nights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky with a clarity that's difficult to appreciate until you're standing beneath it, he continued.
Illuminated by starlight, Peel says the structure resembles a watchtower guarding the edge of the continent.
'The Flats Of Libby'
Peel has lived in Laramie for nearly 47 years.
He's hiked the Snowies, camped beside alpine lakes and brought his children into the mountains when they were young.
The observation tower remains one of the places they always returned to.
His children thought it looked like a castle.
After decades of hiking, camping and photographing the Snowies, Peel found himself writing about them too.
One of his Irish compositions, "The Flats of Libby," borrowed its name from the windswept landscape surrounding the overlook .
More than 60 years after it first appeared on Forest Service maps, and nearly a century since the CCC built it, the overlook remains one of the most recognizable stops in the Snowy Range, drawing everyone from road-trippers and hikers to photographers chasing the stars.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
