Elk Mountain, at the northern end of Wyoming’s Medicine Bow Mountains, is one of the state’s most prominent summits and the most visible landmark south of Interstate 80 in its area. It gained wider notice through a public-land access dispute because the mountain lies in a public parcel surrounded by private property. In 2020 and 2021, four Missouri hunters crossed shared corners without stepping on the surrounding ranch, leading to criminal and civil cases after trespassing accusations. Their acquittal and the later civil ruling established corner crossing as legal, drawing attention to millions of acres of landlocked public land in Wyoming and the wider West. The summit also serves as a radio communications site.