Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail
The non-profit organization, Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail (Friends of MBRT), was formally organized late in 2018 and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The organization is registered with the State of Wyoming.
The purpose of the organization is to support, maintain and celebrate all aspects of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail. Membership fees are used to assist with trail upkeep and promotion.
A core group of Friends of the MBRT form the Trail Crew whose members volunteer with the Medicine Bow National Forest to directly improve and maintain the Rail Trail. Other members assist from time to time with special activities and volunteer trail days or assist financially to fund trail up-keep. Trail supporters, both financial and those wanting to physically become involved with trail upkeep, are welcome. Memberships and/or donations can be made on our donation page.
Tom has a bachelor’s degree in forestry from Utah State University and a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of New Mexico. He worked for 15 years with the National Park Service as a surveying technician and cartographer. In this work he was able to travel to Park Service managed lands all over the country. Tom also worked for a few years in Fort Collins as an aide in an elementary school special needs classroom. He and his wife, Sandra, have three grown sons. When the boys were young Tom and Sandra took them for walks on the rail-trail usually with one or two of them in a jogging stroller.
Jay Whitman lives in Laramie and is retired from the Albany County School District. He was a fourth grade teacher who used outdoor education in his teaching and also covered the history of railroads in Wyoming as part of Wyoming history. He and his wife, Stephanie, have a cabin near the Pelton Creek Trailhead of the MBRT and they both enjoy all outdoor activities. He walks, bicycles, and skis on the MBRT. He and Stephanie are Section Chiefs on the trail from the Pelton Creek Trailhead to Vienna Trailhead.
Amber is a board member and one of the founding members of the Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail. She has been involved with the Rail Trail since the rail came up and the trail became a reality in 2007. Amber prepared grant requests and secured funding for Rail Trail upkeep and repairs. Amber earned Master’s degrees in wildlife biology and exercise physiology from the University of Wyoming. She runs her own environmental consulting company, Real West Natural Resource Consulting, as well as the Laramie Kempo Karate Club. Amber is a freelance writer and authored Mountain Biking Wyoming and Mountain Biking Jackson Hole. She is Tour Director and founder of the Tour de Wyoming bicycle tour that crosses the state every July.
Stephanie Whitman lives in Laramie and is retired after 30+ years working in various aspects of public and environmental health. She has experience in both the public and private sectors. Since retiring she and her husband, Jay, spend about 1/3 of their time in the Medicine Bow Mountains at their cabin near the Pelton Creek Trailhead. As a result they spend a great deal of time biking, hiking, and skiing the trail and have become volunteer section chiefs for the Pelton Creek to Vienna Trailheads.
Brian Reynolds was born in Galesburg, IL, moving to Laramie in 2018 after a military deployment. He was a general dentist at Albany County Family Dentistry from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. He served in the military from 2001 to 2022.
