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Medicine Wheel

Sacred Arrangement of Stones on Medicine Mountain

Archaeological Site in Bighorn NF, Rocky Mountains near Kane, WY

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Archaeological Sites are sensitive in nature and deserve the utmost respect. Please help preserve the area for future generations.

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The Medicine Wheel is a Native American sacred site where hundreds of limestone rocks were placed in the shape of a wheel roughly 80 feet in diameter. Who placed the rocks there and why remains a mystery, but Native American people still utilize the trail to practice their traditional ceremonies. Several prehistoric trails on Medicine Mountain are believed to have been used for 10,000 years. The trail to the Medicine Wheel is an easy 3 mile out-and-back walk along a dirt road with observation points and resting spots along the way. The highest point, where the wheel can be found, is located nearly 10,000 feet above sea level. Visitors frequently come to this sacred landmark looking for inspiration, solitude, and a place to pray or meditate.

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In some Native American cultures, the medicine wheel is a metaphor for a variety of spiritual concepts. A medicine wheel may also be a stone monument that illustrates this metaphor. Historically, the monuments were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground oriented to the four directions. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone, and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes" (lines of rocks) radiating from the center to the cardinal directions (East, South, West and North). These stone structures may or may not be called "medicine wheels" by the people whose ancestors built them, but may be called by more specific terms in that nation's language. Physical medicine wheels made of stone have been constructed by several…

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Archaeological Site