Elk Mountain is a peak at the northern end of the Medicine Bow Mountains. It is southwest of the town of

Elk Mountain, Wyoming Elk Mountain is a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 150 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The town shares its name with a Elk Mountain (Carbon County, Wyoming), mountain to it ...

and roughly from

Rawlins, Wyoming Rawlins is a city in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 8,221 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Carbon County. It was named for Union General John Aaron Rawlins, who camped in the locality in 1867. Demograph ...

. The mountain is the area's most visible feature. It is located south of

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

in Carbon County. Elk Mountain is the 8th most prominent summit in the state of Wyoming.

Access

Elk Mountain is located in a public

landlocked parcel A landlocked parcel is a real estate plot that has no legal access to a public right of way. Generally, a landlocked parcel has less value than a parcel that is not landlocked. Often, the owner of a landlocked parcel can obtain access to a public ...

which became the center of federal

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against four hunters from

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the hunters used a step ladder and onX, an application that maps public lands, to " corner cross" their way over the owned by Fred Eshelman, an entrepreneur and resident of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. Corner crossing is a method of traveling through alternating public and private land without stepping foot on the privately owned parcels by crossing over the corners, which are shared ownership between the government and private owners. Eshelman pressed

criminal trespassing Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person (see below), trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery ...

charges against the hunters for "crossing into his airspace." They were found not guilty following a

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial, in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are increasingly used ...

. The ensuing civil case set

precedent Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...

that corner crossing is legal. There are 2.44 million acres of landlocked public land in Wyoming, and 8.3 million acres across the entire

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. The hunters raised $118,000 to cover their legal defense from 1,200 individual donors. The landowner has signaled intent to take the case to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Infrastructure

Radio station KBDY broadcasts from a tower on the summit. This allows the station to be received over a significant area with only 630 watts of

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ha ...

References

External links

* {{Mountains of Wyoming Mountains of Wyoming Mountains of Carbon County, Wyoming