Wilderness Areas links in Colorado

Two billion years ago, Precambrian gneiss (a coarse-grained, granite-like metamorphic rock that's extremely strong and resistant to erosion) formed the core of this region.

Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness on the northwest flank of the Uncompahgre Plateau is characterized by the high, east-west trending Black Ridge dissected by seven major red rock canyon systems, draining into the Colorado River.

Beaver, elk, mule deer, black bears, mountain lions and one of Colorado's largest herds of bighorn sheep call the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness home, but human visitors are relatively few, preferring the nearby and more glamorous Collegiate Peaks Wilderness

Standing at 12,804 feet, Byers Peak overlooks a Wilderness rendered unique by the fact that about one half of the area consists of alpine tundra, the land above the tree line.

Nine miles of the Little South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River, a part of Colorado's only designated Wild and Scenic River drainage, flow through Cache la Poudre Wilderness.

With eight "fourteeners" (peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in elevation), Collegiate Peaks Wilderness probably possesses the highest average elevation of any Wilderness in the Lower 48.

The 70 miles of trails that wind through this Wilderness begin flanked in ponderosa pine and aspen, and then pass through a thick forest of lodgepole and limber pine.

Heavy snow accumulates on the heights of Eagles Nest Wilderness in the Gore Range, providing a major contribution to the waters of the Colorado River.

Arthur Carhart's 1919 visit to Trappers Lake in the verdant embrace of the Flat Tops prompted him to be the first U.S. Forest Service official to initiate a plea for Wilderness preservation. No wonder he found the area so entrancing:

Here is a small but almost perfect mountain kingdom, with raw granite towering above several beautiful shallow lakes and long valleys carved by ancient glaciers and replete with pine, spruce, fir, and aspen.

For century after century, streams, creeks, melting snows, and flash floods brought bits of rock that became sand grains out of the mountains and to the valley floor. When sand lay exposed, southwesterly winds began the slow process of bouncing the grains

Soaring dramatically from the plains of Colorado, Greenhorn Mountain rises from 7,600 to 12,347 feet in the center of the northern section. Its summit is the highest point in the Wilderness, and nowhere else in the state provides such a vivid and dramatic

The Gunnison Gorge Wilderness is located in the heart of the 57,700 acre Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area (NCA) within the double canyon of the Gunnison River.

Cascading streams, dozens of emerald green lakes, and wide valleys moistened by melting snow make Holy Cross a watery alpine Wilderness of glistening beauty.

Snuggled in between the more spectacular Colorado Wildernesses of Holy Cross on the north, Maroon Bells-Snowmass on the west, and Collegiate Peaks on the south, Hunter-Fryingpan lies all but forgotten.

Many of the peaks within the area were named for American Indian tribes of the west. The Wilderness is located primarily within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest. A portion along the northernmost boundary lies within Rocky Mountain National Park.

The James Peak Wilderness encompasses 14,000 acres on the east side of the Continental Divide in Boulder, Gilpin, and Clear Creek Counties of Colorado.

La Garita means "the lookout" in Spanish, and this Wilderness amply deserves the name. From the summit of this Wilderness's single fourteener (14,014-foot San Luis Peak), climbers can gaze across the upper Rio Grande Valley and down the long stretch of t

Lizard Head, the peak (13,113 feet), stands spirelike on the eastern side of Lizard Head, the Wilderness, shadowed by both Mount Wilson and Wilson Peak, two of Colorado's fourteeners that incongruously bear the same name.

Lost Creek Wilderness is located approximately 60 miles southwest of Denver. Unlike most of Colorado's jagged Wilderness profiles, Lost Creek is a land of fascinating rounded granite domes and knobs, split boulders, rare granite arches, and tree-lined mou

100 miles of trail lead over nine passes above 12,000 feet; vast regions lie above the tree line; long glacial valleys point the way to glistening alpine lakes. With six peaks rising above 14,000 feet, this area draws mountaineers by the thousands every y

About 1,400 years ago, the Anasazi began their occupation of Mesa Verde. Sandstone dwellings deep within the shady overhangs of Mesa Verde's cliffs were not constructed and occupied until the final 100 years of the 700 years in which these people flourish

Mount Evans Wilderness is located approximately 40 miles west of Denver. The Mt. Evans Scenic Byway (Colorado 5) ascends a non-wilderness corridor into the center of the Wilderness.

Mount Massive (14,421 feet), Colorado's second highest peak, and other mountains of the Sawatch Range have two distinctive characteristics: great height, and a huge, sloping bulk that makes them relatively easy to climb.

Mount Sneffels, a 14,150-foot intrusion of igneous rock on the eastern verge of this area, stands higher than any other point in the Wilderness. Members of the Hayden Survey purportedly named the peak after the Icelandic mountain in Jules Verne's " Journe

The Mount Zirkel Wilderness lies within the Routt National Forest in northwestern Colorado. It contains the rugged peaks of the Sawtooth Range and the headwaters of the Elk, Encampment and North Platte rivers.

Bordering Rocky Mountain National Park on the south and surrounded by other Wilderness areas, little Neota actually stands in a huge expanse of virtually roadless country.

As its name suggests, Never Summer Wilderness gets hit with large amounts of rain and snow that collect on its storm-wracked peaks, which offer relatively gentle terrain and bear names that hint at their cloud-kissed heights:

About 36 square miles of forested land lying primarily north and east of the North Platte River is included in this Wyoming Wilderness, with a small segment in Colorado's Routt National Forest

In this Wilderness, the northern verge of the San Juan Mountains reaches out into the Gunnison Basin, a dry land of sagebrush meadows dotted with fish-filled lakes, including Powderhorn Lakes.

The Williams Fork Mountains leap up and away into Ptarmigan Peak Wilderness from just below the western entrance to the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70, virtually unnoticed in winter as skiers rush to many nearby developed ski areas.

Prominent rocky slopes striking skyward to a serrated ridge give Raggeds Wilderness its well-deserved name. Ragged Mountain in the northern half rises to 12,094 feet, but other wonderfully scenic peaks crest higher.

Just before the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies fades into Wyoming's Medicine Bow Mountains, the Rawah Wilderness protects a scenic high country of U-shaped glacier-carved valleys and peaks reaching 12,951 feet.

Sangre de Cristo is Spanish for "Blood of Christ," but no one is quite sure why the region was given this name. Was it because of the bloody hues washing the slopes at sunset, or the cry of the dying priest, "sangre de Cristo," as his martyred blood flowe

Old-timers sometimes pronounced "service" as "sarvis," and the Sarvis Timber Company once logged near here, lending its name to this Wilderness.

Ages of volcanic activity followed by the infinitely patient carving of glaciers left the rough, imposing terrain of the remote South San Juan Wilderness, an area typified by steep slopes above broad U-shaped valleys cut sharply deeper by eroding streams.

Los Cumbres Espanolos, the Spanish Peaks, are prominent landmarks along the eastern front of the southern Rockies. Their snow-capped summits, rising 7000 feet above the arid plains, made the "Double Mountain" an easily recognizable reference point to trav

The name comes from a Ute Indian word with one of the translations being "dirty water". This wilderness is located in the north-central region of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. There are two fourteeners and at least twenty-five thirteen foot peaks in

Along the southern boundary of the relatively small Vasquez Peak Wilderness and over Vasquez Peak itself, you'll find that seven miles of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail offer two distinct and worthy opportunities.

The Weminuche lies in the San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests of southwestern Colorado. Its average elevation is 10,000 feet. Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom Peaks rise above 14,000 feet in elevation, while many others reach above 13,000.

The West Elk's most attractive offering may be a large and untamed area with little visitation. Only during fall hunting season do the trails and campsites fill. Elk and deer number in the thousands.