Colorado Porch

Tag

wilderness

22 Porch Notes tagged “wilderness,” from counties across Colorado.

Outdoors and wildfire - Ouray County

Mount Sneffels sits in a wilderness, reached by a rough basin road

Mount Sneffels is a 14er inside the Mount Sneffels Wilderness southwest of Ouray, and the usual approach climbs Camp Bird Road through Yankee Boy Basin on a steep, high-clearance route.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Chaffee County

Chaffee County's fourteeners sit on national forest land

The Collegiate Peaks above Buena Vista are public peaks managed by the U.S. Forest Service, and some of the high country is designated wilderness with its own rules.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Eagle County

Holy Cross Wilderness has different rules than the forest around it

Many popular Eagle County trailheads lead into the Holy Cross Wilderness, where wilderness rules are stricter than on the rest of the White River National Forest.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Lake County

Mount Massive sits in a designated wilderness with stricter rules

Mount Massive and the country around it are inside the Mount Massive Wilderness, where wilderness rules limit what you can do beyond ordinary national forest.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Custer County

The Sangre de Cristo Wilderness rises right above Westcliffe

The high peaks west of Westcliffe sit inside a designated wilderness in the national forest, where the rules are stricter than on ordinary forest land.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Boulder County

Indian Peaks Wilderness has its own rules above the trailheads

The Indian Peaks Wilderness on Boulder County's western edge has special protections, including leashed-dog and overnight-permit rules, on top of regular national forest land.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Ouray County

The Uncompahgre Wilderness is big, quiet, and closed to motors and bikes

The Uncompahgre Wilderness covers a large stretch of the San Juans east of Ouray, with several trails leading in from the west and the usual wilderness limits on motors and bikes.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Garfield County

The Flat Tops Wilderness has different rules than a regular trail

Part of the Flat Tops Wilderness reaches into northern Garfield County, and designated wilderness comes with its own access and use rules that differ from ordinary national forest land.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Summit County

Eagles Nest Wilderness in the Gore Range has stricter rules than regular forest

The Eagles Nest Wilderness in the Gore Range west of Silverthorne is a designated wilderness, so no bikes or motors are allowed and camping and campfires follow special limits.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Montrose County

The Gunnison Gorge near Montrose is wild water reached on foot

North of Montrose, the BLM-managed Gunnison Gorge holds a wilderness and a Gold Medal trout river, reached by hiking in from Peach Valley Road trailheads.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Las Animas County

West of Aguilar, the Spanish Peaks rise into national forest and wilderness

The high country around the Spanish Peaks is national forest land, with a designated wilderness where motors and bikes are not allowed, so the rules change as you move up the mountain.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Grand County

Byers Peak Wilderness rises right above the Fraser Valley

Byers Peak Wilderness sits in the Arapaho National Forest above Fraser, and reaching its high trails takes a long forest-road approach.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Gilpin County

James Peak Wilderness: a wild corner of Gilpin County with strict rules

The James Peak Wilderness reaches into western Gilpin County, and as designated wilderness it bans campfires, bikes, and motors, with leashed pets and small group sizes.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Delta County

Gunnison Gorge's Gold Medal trout water is reached by 4WD roads and a hike down

The Gunnison Gorge Wilderness holds Gold Medal trout water, but its trailheads sit off primitive roads that turn impassable when wet, and you hike steeply down into the canyon.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Mesa County

McInnis Canyons and Black Ridge: BLM land with its own rules

The red-rock canyons west of Grand Junction are a BLM National Conservation Area, and the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness inside it limits land travel to foot and horseback.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Montrose County

Montrose's high country is the Uncompahgre National Forest

The mountains above Montrose are part of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests, managed locally by the Ouray Ranger District based in Montrose.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Pueblo County

Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness rises in Pueblo County's Wet Mountains

Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness sits in the Wet Mountains southwest of Pueblo in the San Carlos Ranger District, a quiet, trail-limited wilderness with strict wilderness rules.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Jackson County

The Never Summer Wilderness rises on the east edge of North Park

The Never Summer Wilderness shares a boundary with Rocky Mountain National Park, and reaching its Jackson County trailheads means rough roads, seasonal closures, and wilderness rules.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Chaffee County

Buffalo Peaks Wilderness closes some roads for elk calving

The Buffalo Peaks Wilderness in the northeast corner of the Chaffee County area is open to hikers year-round, but several access roads close in spring for elk calving.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Gunnison County

The West Elk Wilderness is remote and closed to bikes and motors

The West Elk Wilderness in the Gunnison National Forest is a large, lightly visited area where, as in all wilderness, bikes and motorized vehicles are not allowed.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Park County

Buffalo Peaks Wilderness, near Fairplay, is quiet meadow country with bighorn sheep

On the southwest edge of the Mosquito Range, the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness offers walkable meadow-and-forest backcountry close to Fairplay and Hartsel, with one of Colorado's largest bighorn sheep herds and strict wilderness rules.

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Outdoors and wildfire - Park County

Lost Creek Wilderness, near Tarryall, is granite-dome country with wilderness rules

The Lost Creek Wilderness in eastern Park County is known for rounded granite domes and arches reached from Tarryall Road, and as designated wilderness it has stricter rules than ordinary forest.

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