1960 Map of Shell Lake

About this map

Bighorn National Forest contains a vast high-elevation wilderness defined by steep drainage basins and glacial lakes along the border of Big Horn and Johnson counties. The landscape is interconnected by a historic network of pack trails, including the Edelman Trail and Solitude Trail, which negotiate significant mountain crossings such as Dutch Oven Pass and Edelman Pass. This 1960 field survey captures a primitive backcountry era before modern road access reached these interior basins, showing the remote character of sites like Teepee Pole Flats and the Lake Geneva Campground. The hydrologic complexity of the region is evident in the clusters of alpine water bodies, most notably the Lakes of the Rough and Emerald Lake, which feed the headwaters of Shell Creek and Medicine Lodge Creek.