Special Places
Visit the recreation page, use the interactive visitor map, or contact the nearest Forest Service office for more information.
With the Wilderness Act of 1964, Congress created a system to preserve the nation’s most wild, natural and undisturbed landscapes. Designated wilderness areas help protect critical wildlife habitat and natural resources for future generations. Wilderness areas may also provide opportunities to experience challenge and adventure or solitude. Regulations are in place to maintain the primitive character of these special places.
The Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands manage nine Wilderness Areas.
The Top of the Rockies National Scenic Byway offers breathtaking views from the historic towns of Leadville and Twin Lakes to Independence Pass at 12,095 feet.
The Frontier Pathways Scenic and Historic Byway traverses through the lush Wet Mountains, providing views of the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range.
Picket Wire Guided Auto Tour provides the only motorized access into Picket Wire Canyonlands, home to the largest dinosaur tracksite in North America.
Collegiate Peaks Byway parallels the Continental Divide at the foot of the Sawatch Range with the highest concentration of peaks over 14,000 feet in the country.
Pikes Peak Highway paves the way to the summit of “America’s Mountain” at 14,115 feet.
Highway of Legends travels through an area rich in cultural history, crossing Cuchara pass, with an option to also travel over Cordova Pass. This route provides opportunities to see unique geological formations known as dikes.
The Continental Divide Trail travels 3,100 miles along the Continental Divide from Mexico to the Canadian border where it terminates in Glacier National Park.
The Colorado Trail streteches nearly 500 miles from Denver to Durango.
The Santa Fe National Historic Trail was the major trade and travel route in the 1800's between Old Franklin, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Local mountain climbers affectionately refer to peaks more than 14,000 feet as “fourteeners.” The Pike and San Isabel National Forests contain 23 of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners. The hikes are extremely challenging, but the views rewarding. Know before you go.
Browns Canyon National Monument, designated in 2015, remains relatively undeveloped. The majority of the monument’s visitors raft through Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River. Depending on water levels, it may be a peaceful float or a thrill ride through class V rapids. The 21,586-acre monument includes a 6,614-acre wilderness study area, where no motorized vehicles or bicycles are permitted. Diverse species of wildlife, from Big Horn Sheep to Golden Eagles, along with unique rock formations and stunning mountain views can be discovered here.
Picket Wire Canyonlands, home to the largest dinosaur tracksite in North America, encompasses approximately 16 miles of tributaries and side canyons along the Purgatoire River. The track site contains more than 1,900 prints in 130 separate trackways. The prints were left by a variety of dinosaurs in the muddy sediments along an ancient lake some 150 million years ago. The round trip hike to the dinosaur tracks is more than 11 miles from the Withers Canyon Trailhead. Visitors need to plan to start early in the day and carry ample water.
Arthur Carhart, the first landscape architect of the Forest Service, designed Davenport Campground. It is one of the earliest Forest Service campgrounds. Prior to Carhart being hired in 1919, the agency focused primarily on timber uses of the forest. At that time, working people were looking for an escape from the steel mills and coal camps, and automobiles were becoming affordable. Carhart envisioned what we now know as sustainable recreation. His recreation plan for the San Isabel National Forest was the first for the agency. He went on to work with conservationist Aldo Leopold in creating the wilderness concept. The picnic shelters and fire hearths at Davenport Campground were reconstructed in 2006 using Carhart's original designs.
Highlighted Areas
Colorado Trail #1776 - Segment 12-Clear Creek
This segment of the Colorado Trail (1776) begins at Clear Creek on Chaffee County Road 390 and, after gaining 4,520 feet, ends at North Cottonwood Creek 18.5 miles to the south. A re-route completed in 2007 moved the trail off private property making access easier. The trail climbs out of Clear Creek and enters the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. Follow all posted Wilderness guidelines when entering the area. The trail then continues into Pine Creek and then Frenchman's Creek before dropping into North Cottonwood. This segment spends a good portion above 11,000 feet and brings you close to three Fourteeners (Mounts Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia).
Wilderness Areas
The Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands is home to nine congressionally designated wilderness areas with over 385,000 acres of untrammeled opportunities for challenge, solitude, tranquility and personal growth. Wilderness areas provide critical habitat for a multitude of species and help to protect important natural resources, such as clean water.
There are regulations in place for each wilderness (e.g., group size, number of stock animals, type of stock feed, campfires, camping locations and dogs) to minimize human impacts to these unique and special areas. Some wildernesses require visitors to obtain self-issued permits that are available at each trailhead at no cost. Permits are required to measure the number of visitors using an area and educate visitors about the benefits of minimizing our collective impacts.
Many of the forest's popular climbing peaks over 14,000' (Fourteeners) are within designated wilderness where regulations apply. Please always use Leave No Trace techniques to help keep these areas wild, clean and pristine! Read the special considerations for Bear Country.
Maps are available.
Wilderness areas
- Buffalo Peaks Wilderness
- Collegiate Peaks Wilderness
- Greenhorn Mountains Wilderness
- Holy Cross Wilderness
- Lost Creek Wilderness
- Mount Evans Wilderness
- Mount Massive Wilderness
- Sangre De Cristo Wilderness
- Spanish Peaks Wilderness
Holy Cross Wilderness
Holy Cross Wilderness, established in 1980, now encompasses a total of 122,918 acres spanning San Isabel and White River National Forests. Its name comes from the 14,007-foot Mount of the Holy Cross, which dominates the northern end of the Sawatch Range, so named because of the 1,150-foot tall "cross" of snow facing northwest.
The area is characterized by rugged ridgelines and glacier-carved valleys complete with spruce-fir forests, cascading streams and dozens of lakes. Many small lakes and streams are stocked with trout or have native trout populations. The area is graced with abundant wildlife, dense forests, wildflowers and magnificent vistas.
Over 150 miles of trail traverse the area, providing excellent opportunities for day hiking and backpacking trips.
Please help keep wilderness wild by following Leave No Trace practices.
Colorado Trail #1776 - Segment 11-Mount Elbert
Mount Massive Trailhead to Clear Creek Road
This segment of the Colorado Trail (1776) begins at North Halfmoon Creek at the Mount Elbert Trailhead and ends 21.1 miles later at the Clear Creek Road (Chaffee County Road 390). The trail hugs the eastern base of Mount Elbert (the highest mountain in Colorado at 14,440 feet) and then skirts the eastside of Twin Lakes Reservoir. The trail then climbs and crosses Lost Canyon before linking with a re-route completed in 2007, then dropping into Clear Creek. This section has a total elevation gain of 1,520 feet and provides good views of the San Isabel National Forest on the Leadville District.
Colorado Trail #1776 - Segment 10-Timberline Lake
Timberline Lake Trailhead to Mount Massive Trailhead
This segment of the Colorado Trail (#1776) can be accessed from the parking lot of the Timberline Lake Trailhead, located at the west end of Turquoise Lake. From the Timberline Lake Trailhead heading south, the trail is 13 miles to Halfmoon Creek, traveling along the east-side of Mount Massive and through the Mt. Massive Wilderness and the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. Special group limits and fishing restrictions apply in this section; please check trailheads for specific information and restrictions.
This trail also takes hikers through the Colorado Midland Centennial Trail #1491, a popular trail in the Hagerman Pass area.
Mount Massive Wilderness
Mount Massive Wilderness was designated by Congress in 1980, and it now has a total of 30,540 acres. All of this wilderness is located in Colorado and is managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service.
The Mount Massive Wilderness is bordered by the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness to the west. 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. Nowhere along the Continental Divide does the ground rise higher than the Sawatch Range, the crest of this continent. Just south of the wilderness stands Mount Elbert at 14,443 feet, Colorado's highest summit. The divide marks the western boundary of this area, with the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness immediately to the other side. Dry lodgepole pine forests, typical of the eastern slopes of the divide, cover much of the lower elevations and give way to spruce and fir higher up before all trees yield to alpine tundra.
The Leadville National Fish Hatchery, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, comprises approximately 2,500 acres. The majority of the Fish Hatchery lies within the boundary of the Mount Massive Wilderness. The hatchery land inside the wilderness boundary is co-managed by the USDA Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Forest Service is the principal land manager, protecting the wilderness resources. The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages the fishery and water resources to protect and perpetuate native fish species.
The Colorado Trail #1776 crosses 10 miles of the eastern region, and only about 10 more miles of trails exist in this wilderness.
Please help keep wilderness wild by following Leave No Trace practices.
Leadville Ranger District Fourteeners
The Leadville Ranger District is home to some of the most beautiful peaks in all of Colorado, including the two highest points, Mt. Elbert (14,433 ft.) and Mt. Massive (14,421 ft.). From well-traveled routes to greatly isolated peaks, these fourteeners tower above the towns of Leadville and Twin Lakes below, where their peaks can be seen shrouded in white at any point in the year.
Fourteeners are well-traveled due to their challenging and rewarding nature and many see heavy use. Fourteeners are not to be taken lightly, and visitors should take the proper precautions when visiting these peaks. Along with high altitude sickness, visitors can experience exhaustion and dehydration. Visitors coming from low altitude areas should take some time to acclimatize themselves before attempting the peaks.
There are many Fourteeners in Wilderness Areas and Wilderness regulations apply. Wilderness Areas are intended to be a place where the imprint of humans is substantially unnoticed; where natural processes are the primary influences, and human activity is limited to primitive recreation and minimum tools. Please follow Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics to ensure that this and future generations experience these special places in their natural condition.
- La Plata Peak
- Mount Belford
- Mount Columbia
- Mount Elbert
- Mount Harvard
- Huron Peak
- Mount Massive
- Missouri Mountain
- Mount Oxford
- Mount Sherman
The U.S. Forest Service has many partners, including Colorado Fourteeners Initiative that help protect and preserve Colorado's 14,000 foot peaks, or "Fourteeners", through active stewardship and public education.
Colorado Trail # 1776 - Segment 9-Tennessee Pass
Tennessee Pass Trailhead to Timberline Lake Trailhead
This segment of the Colorado Trail (#1776) can be accessed from Tennessee Pass off US Hwy 24. The trail heads south towards Bear Lake in Holy Cross Wilderness. Then contiues to the Timberline Lake Trailhead, located at the west end of Turquoise Lake.