Fruit Trees for Saratoga, Encampment, Rawlins and the Upper North Platte, Wyoming

In the January 2024 cold snap, the NOAA station a few miles north of Saratoga bottomed out at −37°F. Old Battle, a mountain station more than 3,000 feet higher in the Sierra Madre, bottomed out at −15°F. On a still winter night the cold slides off the mountains and settles on the valley floor, so picking fruit trees for Saratoga, Encampment, Rawlins and the Upper North Platte starts with knowing where your ground sits in that pool.

This map covers the Platte Valley of Wyoming, the Good Times Valley, from Riverside and Encampment down the North Platte past Saratoga to Fort Steele, Sinclair and Walcott, plus Rawlins, all in Carbon County in south-central Wyoming. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

Every spot gets a 30-year planning low, the number our cold hardiness calculator uses, built from NOAA station records since the 1995-96 winter. It leans cold, so it's a safe number to plan around, not a record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones, the typical winter is an average year's coldest night, and the spring layer shows how much warmer or colder a still, clear night at bloom runs than Saratoga, our reference town.

The middle of this map plans for −34°F, and half the growing ground falls between −36°F and −31°F. Saratoga plans for −35°F, MFTC zone 3a, right on the line with 3b. The warm end is the bench ground around Encampment, where the warmest tenth near town gets to −26°F, plus the hills above Rawlins (around −28°F) and Tullis at the southwest corner (−27°F, zone 4a). The cold end is the floor north of Saratoga, where Campbell Ranch, the Z N Ranch, Oberg Ranch and the Old Haymaker Place all plan for −39°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

The North Platte comes into Wyoming from North Park, Colorado through Northgate Canyon and runs north between the Sierra Madre on the west (Bridger Peak, 11,004 feet) and the Snowy Range on the east (Medicine Bow Peak, 12,013 feet). The Encampment River comes north out of Colorado's Park Range, past Encampment and through Riverside, and joins it at 6,959 feet south of Saratoga. On a clear, calm night, cold air drains off both ranges into this trough and creeps north with the water.

It creeps slowly. The floor falls only about 300 feet in the 24 miles, as the crow flies, from Saratoga to Fort Steele, and the floor spots in between sit on slopes under 2 percent. Most of a cold pool's chill is made right where it sits, as the ground radiates to a clear sky, and a nearly flat floor keeps what it makes. The newer NOAA station north of Saratoga (Saratoga 4N, 6,797 feet) has averaged a yearly low of −30°F since 2012, the coldest of any station on the map, and its own 30-year number works out to −41°F.

Above the pool sits warmer air. On December 31, 2014, while the station north of Saratoga read −37°F, Divide Peak (8,880 feet) read −15°F and Old Battle (10,000 feet) −16°F. Even up high, hollows lose to ridges: Sage Creek Basin (7,850 feet) runs 5°F colder in the yearly low than Divide Peak, about 1,000 feet higher, and Webber Springs runs 4°F colder than Old Battle, 2 miles away and 750 feet higher. On a calm night here, higher isn't colder. Lower and more enclosed is.

Down where people live, it plays out over a few hundred feet. Around Saratoga the benches 100 to 700 feet up plan for −32°F against −36°F for the floor, and in Rawlins the airport station, 140 feet lower than the station just north of downtown, runs a median 6°F colder in the yearly low. Utah State's fruit people say ground 50 to 100 feet above the valley floor is less freeze prone, and the map agrees.

The calm night isn't the only kind. The deepest arctic outbreaks pour in on a wind and fill everything: in the February 1989 outbreak, Old Battle hit −38°F and Saratoga −39°F. Other nights the valley doesn't pool at all: in the January 2017 cold snap the station north of Saratoga only got to −8°F while the Rawlins airport hit −32°F. Wind or cloud is the usual reason; orchard inversions usually hold only under 3 to 5 mph, and Wyoming's winter winds often run 30 to 40 mph.

Water does little here. Saratoga Lake freezes hard enough for an ice fishing derby every winter, a frozen lake gives nothing back, and the river runs in a bottom, which is low ground. Nobody has measured town heat in Saratoga or Rawlins. Snow matters more: Saratoga and Rawlins each average 53 to 54 inches of snow a year, and the wind moves a lot of it. Snow cover chills the air above it but keeps the ground under it warmer; ground the wind scours bare freezes deep, and that's what kills roots.

Saratoga, the hot springs and the North Platte bottom

Saratoga, Wyoming, called Warm Springs until 1884, sits on the North Platte at 6,798 feet, 10 feet above the river floor. It plans for −35°F (3a, a hair colder than the 3b line), with a typical winter around −21°F. Within 3 miles the floor runs −36°F, the benches and the warmest tenth of the ground −32°F, and the coldest tenth −38°F.

Downtown, the Wolf Hotel, the Hobo Hot Pool and Veterans Island Park are all on the river bottom, and nobody has measured whether the hot springs warm the air in town on a cold night. The Hot Springs golf course has a tee on top of a cliff above the river, and that bluff and the "south hill" across from the airport are the better ground. Shively Field, about a mile southwest, sits at 7,014 feet, roughly 220 feet above downtown, up on that bench ground. East of town, Fourmile Hill, 150 feet above its floor, plans for −34°F and reads 14°F warmer than town on a spring night.

The bottom is flood ground (the 1917 snowmelt flood covered some houses, and the river came up again in 2011 and 2012), so test drainage before you plant: dig 2 feet, fill it, let it drain, refill it, and under 10 hours is well drained.

The old Saratoga station, in town from 1949 to 2006, set the town's record of −42°F on January 12, 1963. At −35°F, plant what has come through −40°F or colder: Haralson, Honeycrisp and Zestar!® apples, Kerr applecrab, Summercrisp pear, Toka plum and Evan's Bali tart cherry. On the bluff or the south hill, Triumph apple and Superior plum (both have come through −35°F) fit too. Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior; the pollination maps show what goes with what.

North of Saratoga: the coldest flats in the valley

Head north toward Saratoga Lake and the fish hatchery and the ground gets colder. Campbell Ranch and the Z N Ranch, 20 to 30 feet above the floor, plan for −39°F with a typical winter of −24°F. The Old Haymaker Place, right on the river bottom at 6,705 feet, plans for −39°F with a typical winter of −25°F, the coldest of any named spot. Oberg Ranch, on a toe slope at 7,166 feet on the east side, is −39°F too, and the Old McKeal Place downriver −38°F.

Height helps less here in winter than you'd expect: Sixmile Hill, 240 feet above the floor about 5 miles north of town, still plans for −36°F. Part of that is the slow drainage, and part is that the map leans on the nearest stations, the coldest of which sits right here. The map reads −40°F at that station, colder than anything it has recorded in 13 winters (−37°F, twice), and with a record this short we want that margin.

In spring, Sixmile Hill reads 16°F warmer than Saratoga on a still bloom night, while Campbell Ranch and the Z N Ranch read 1°F to 2°F warmer and the Old McKeal Place 2°F colder. Spring frost layers usually top out 30 to 200 feet above the ground, so a hill still inside the winter pool can sit above the spring one.

On these flats a −40°F rating doesn't leave enough room, so go with −45°F or colder and keep snow over the roots. Ed Schultz, who farms in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, saw zero winter injury on Centennial applecrab after a winter that hit −47°F.

Encampment, Riverside and the Encampment River

Encampment, or Grand Encampment, was a copper boomtown around 1900. The town sits at 7,258 feet on a terrace about 100 feet above the Encampment River, up in the thermal belt. It plans for −32°F (MFTC zone 3b), with a typical winter of −17°F, and runs 8°F warmer than Saratoga on a still spring night. Within 3 miles the floor runs −34°F, the benches −30°F and the warmest tenth of the ground −26°F, the best numbers near any town on this map.

Riverside is less than a mile northeast, down on the river bottom at 7,148 feet where WY 230 meets WY 70. It plans for −33°F (3b), with a typical winter of −18°F, and its spring reading is even with Saratoga. About 1°F apart in winter and 8°F apart at bloom: that's what 90 feet of height and getting off the bottom will do. The hills north of the two towns, Baggot Rocks and Needle Peak, 630 to 650 feet above the floor, plan for −30°F to −32°F and read 19°F warmer than Saratoga in spring.

Downstream it gets colder fast. Davis, on a hillside 60 feet above the floor, plans for −35°F, Cow Creek about −37°F, and the Encampment River's mouth at 6,964 feet −37°F. That confluence has one of the worst spring readings on the map, 6°F colder than Saratoga, where two valleys' worth of draining cold air meet on low ground.

One caution. The old NOAA station east-southeast of Encampment (Encampment 10 ESE, 7,385 feet) read −46°F on January 12, 1963, the coldest on file anywhere on this map, and −44°F in December 1990, when Saratoga got to −33°F. Its record ends in 1997, and the stations near Encampment since are mostly mountain sites at 8,000 to 10,000 feet, so we'd plant the south end with some room to spare.

On Encampment's terrace you have the widest choice on the map: Zestar!®, Honeycrisp, Haralson and Triumph apples, Toka and Superior plums, Ure pear and Evan's Bali. Lapins and Gold, the hardiest sweet cherries we've found, have come through −35°F and clear the winter number; whether they crop depends on bloom nights, so give them the best spot. Down in Riverside or along the lower river, stick with −40°F and colder.

Rawlins, the airport flats and the hills above town

Rawlins sits at about 6,800 feet just east of the Great Divide Basin, with I-80 along the south side of town. The town point, on a toe slope 90 feet above the floor, plans for −33°F (3b), with a typical winter of −18°F, and reads 10°F warmer than Saratoga on a spring night. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −36°F, the benches −32°F and the warmest tenth −29°F.

The airport station (6,769 feet, about 2 miles northeast of downtown) has 74 years on file, an average yearly low of −21°F and a record of −36°F, last reached on February 2, 2011. The station just north of downtown (Rawlins 1N, 6,908 feet) has averaged −16°F and bottomed out at −29°F since 2011. Nobody has studied why the airport runs 6°F colder; our bet is lower, open ground collecting cold air. The town point's −33°F is colder than anything the station north of downtown has recorded, the cautious side to be on.

The hills plan warmer: Rawlins Peak, 950 feet above its floor, −28°F (4a), and Chokecherry Knob to the south −27°F. But this is wind country: Wyoming's winter winds lean trees east or southeast in some places and drift snow several feet deep. Bob Purvis's rule fits: plant on a slope, but not on a windswept hilltop and not down in the bottom. Montana State's advice is a windbreak at least as tall as the trees, on the windward side (not across the slope below them, where it dams cold air).

Rawlins has community garden plots at the old Wyoming Frontier Prison and a high tunnel at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. In town the −40°F and colder picks fit, and Triumph and Superior clear −33°F too; on the flats toward the airport, where the map reads −36°F, drop them.

Sinclair, Fort Steele and Walcott

Sinclair started out as Parco, a refinery town planned in 1924 and 1925. The town point, 50 feet above the floor at 6,595 feet, plans for −36°F (3a), with a typical winter of −19°F and a spring reading 3°F warmer than Saratoga. Within 3 miles the floor runs −37°F and the benches −34°F. Grenville Dome, a bench about a mile southeast of town and 200 feet above the floor, plans for −33°F and reads 13°F warmer than Saratoga in spring, the best ground close to Sinclair.

Nine miles east, Fort Fred Steele sits where the Union Pacific crosses the North Platte. At 6,503 feet it's the lowest named place on the map, yet it plans for −36°F to −37°F, 2°F to 3°F warmer than the flats north of Saratoga. We think part of it is that the river keeps going north into the Hanna Basin, so the cold has somewhere to go, and part is that the coldest station sits up the valley, not here. Walcott, on the floor at the south end of the Hanna Basin, plans for −37°F; Walcott Junction, 90 feet above its floor, −35°F and 8°F warmer than Saratoga in spring.

Wind is the big factor at this end. A 1917 report noted high winds between Saratoga and Walcott, and the I-80 stretch from Walcott Junction to Laramie closes often enough in winter to have earned the nickname "Snow Chi Minh Trail." Plant here the way you would on the Saratoga floor: −40°F and colder, with windbreaks. Over the Snowy Range in Laramie, the Cheyenne and Laramie map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom in the Platte Valley

The spring layer is the same drainage at full strength. The Encampment River's mouth runs 6°F colder than Saratoga, among the worst on the map, while Encampment runs 8°F warmer, Rawlins 10°F, Grenville Dome and Tullis 13°F and the hillsides 14°F to 19°F.

NOAA station frost dates (1991 to 2020 medians) show how short the season is. At the Rawlins airport the last 32°F comes June 3 and the first in fall September 17, a 104-day frost-free season; the last 28°F comes May 14, and one spring in ten the last 32°F comes after June 14. Sage Creek Basin, at 7,850 feet, gets 77 frost-free days, while Divide Peak, about 1,000 feet higher, gets 96. No NOAA station has frost dates for the Saratoga floor. The Old Farmer's Almanac's Saratoga dates (81 days) get reused for Encampment, though Encampment sits about 500 feet higher on better spring ground.

Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying at about 28°F, so the last 28°F matters more than the last 32°F. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and most fruit that doesn't grow in clusters (cherries and grapes do) can lose half its bloom and call it thinning. Fully open haskap (honeyberry) flowers take 19°F. This spring's bloom freeze in Montana hit 15°F at Ed Schultz's in Gallatin Gateway, and he got no fruit at all.

Put the early bloomers (apricots, sweet cherries, plums) on the warmest spring ground: Encampment's terrace, the Rawlins benches, Grenville Dome or a slope well off the floor, ideally facing east, which warms fastest on a frosty morning. Even there, apricots are a long shot; Utah State's fruit people say apricots in that state's cold spots fruit about 1 year in every 5 or 6. Apples, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries can go lower. Through bloom, mow short, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost night; frost cloth of 0.9 ounces per square yard gains about 6°F. Clear brush or fences that cross the slope below your trees, since draining cold only a few feet deep backs up behind them.

Fall comes early too: the first 32°F lands around September 1 at Sage Creek Basin, and frost pockets run earlier than the stations. Freezes before trees harden off kill at temperatures a January tree shrugs off; on October 25, 2020, Missoula's airport hit −7°F after a mild fall, and it killed trees rated plenty hardy on paper. Taper water from mid-August, skip late nitrogen, and don't prune late in the fall.

What the weather records say

The coldest reading on file in the map is −46°F at the old Encampment 10 ESE station on January 12, 1963, when Saratoga read −42°F and the Rawlins airport −35°F. Old Battle, Webber Springs and Divide Peak set their records in early February 1989 (Old Battle −38°F at 10,000 feet), and the December 1990 outbreak brought −44°F east-southeast of Encampment.

Our planning low is built on winters since 1995-96, so the 1963, 1989 and 1990 nights aren't in it, though February 2011, December 2014 and January 2024 are. That's one more reason to pick with some margin, especially at the south end.

On zones: USDA's map is built on the average of each winter's coldest night, which runs about −21°F at Saratoga and −17°F to −18°F in Encampment and Rawlins on our map. NOAA station records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low, so our zones usually read more than a full zone colder than USDA's.

What you can grow here

Every plant we sell is zoned to the coldest temperature it has actually come through, so you can hold its rating right up against your planning low. Plant two different apples, or an apple and a crab, so they pollenize each other.

Encampment's terrace, the benches and the hills: −32°F or warmer

Apples: Zestar!® (−40°F), Honeycrisp and Haralson (−45°F), Wealthy (−50°F) and Triumph (−35°F). Pears: Summercrisp and Ure (−40°F). Plums: Toka (−45°F), Pipestone (−40°F) and Superior (−35°F). Cherries: Evan's Bali tart (−45°F), and Lapins sweet (−35°F) on the best spring ground. Westcot (−45°F) and Debbie's Gold (−50°F) apricots have the hardiness, but bloom makes them a gamble anywhere in this valley. Berries: Honeyberry, Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry and Boyne raspberry.

Saratoga, Riverside, Rawlins, Sinclair and the middle of the valley: −33°F to −36°F

Stick to −40°F or colder: Haralson, Frostbite, Honeycrisp, Zestar!® and Parkland apples; Kerr and Centennial applecrabs; Summercrisp and Bolshaya pears; Toka, Brookgold and Pipestone plums; Evan's Bali, Romeo and Juliet cherries; Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant and Nanking cherry. Worth a try on the best ground in this band: Triumph, Superior and Lapins, which have come through −35°F.

The flats north of Saratoga and the river bottoms: −37°F to −39°F

The ranch flats from Campbell Ranch to the Old McKeal Place, Walcott, Cow Creek and the Encampment River's mouth. Give yourself room: Trailman and Rescue applecrabs (−60°F), Dolgo crab and September Ruby apple (−55°F), and at −50°F Mantet, Norda and Wealthy apples, Larinskaya and Krasnobokaya pears, Brookred and Northern Blue plums and Cutie Pie dwarf cherry. Haralson and Honeycrisp (−45°F) still clear it. Golden Currant, Aronia and Buffaloberry have all come through −50°F.

Roots, wind, season and local trouble

Roots are the weak link, and wind exposes them. At Ed Schultz's, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no rootstock damage, but scoured ground is another story, so hold snow over the roots with a windbreak of 30 to 40 percent density, mulch, and keep the soil moist going into winter. Use drip irrigation, the only kind we advise in dry country. Montana State recommends an uphill spot on a 4 to 8 percent grade where cold air won't settle.

With 77 to 104 frost-free days at the stations, this is short-season country (the University of Vermont draws the line at 135), and late apples, pears and grapes may not ripen. Our Siberian C peach is the hardiest peach we think is out there, but it ripens very late, a poor fit here. At Sink Canyon Ranch near Lander, about 800 feet lower than Saratoga, Zestar and Triumph produce well, while Spartan and Cortland took spring and fall cold damage.

Laramie County's extension people recommend fire blight resistant varieties and list good shrub fruit for Cheyenne, including native chokecherry, serviceberry and elderberry. For local help, UW Extension Carbon County in Rawlins, (307) 328-2642, offers backyard fruit classes and yard visits.

Fruit history in Wyoming

Nothing we could find documents an orchard in the Platte Valley; Encampment ran on copper, timber and ranching, and Sinclair on its refinery. Statewide, apples were grown in 29 Wyoming towns and cities from 1870 until production fell off in the 1940s, and Wealthy was mentioned more than any other variety. A genetic survey of 510 old Wyoming apple trees found Wealthy the most common, followed by Haralson, Patten Greening, Yellow Transparent, Northwest Greening and McMahon. The closest high-ground example is the Sink Canyon Ranch orchard near Lander, at about 6,000 feet under a canyon wall, where pre-1900 trees of Whitney No. 20 (the Whitney crab), Wealthy, Wolf River and Transcendent crab still stand.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Saratoga, Wyoming?

Saratoga plans for −35°F, MFTC zone 3a, right on the line with 3b. The benches around town run −32°F and the flats north of town −39°F. USDA's zones are built on an average winter's coldest night, about −21°F in Saratoga, so they read warmer than ours; we zone for the bad night.

When is the last frost in Saratoga, Wyoming?

Late. The Old Farmer's Almanac puts Saratoga's last frost around June 9 and its first fall frost around August 30, at 30 percent odds. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 medians at the Rawlins airport are June 3 and September 17, and Saratoga's floor runs colder than Rawlins on a still spring night, so plan for frost into June.

What hardiness zone is Rawlins, Wyoming?

The Rawlins town point plans for −33°F, MFTC zone 3b, with the floor nearby at −36°F and the hills above town around −28°F. The airport has averaged a yearly low of −21°F and its record is −36°F. USDA's map is built on that kind of average winter, which is why its zones read warmer than ours.

Is Riverside, Wyoming the coldest place in Wyoming?

No. Wyoming's −66°F record from February 9, 1933 came from the Riverside Ranger Station in Yellowstone, not Riverside in Carbon County. Riverside plans for −33°F on our map, and the coldest NOAA readings in this valley are −46°F east-southeast of Encampment and −42°F at Saratoga, both on January 12, 1963.

Can you grow apples at 7,000 feet in Wyoming?

Yes, if you pick for both the cold and the short season. Encampment, at 7,258 feet, plans for −32°F, and apples that have come through −40°F or colder, like Haralson, Honeycrisp and Zestar!®, clear that with room to spare. The catch is 77 to 104 frost-free days, so go with early ripeners and a sheltered spot off the valley floor.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.