Wilderness Areas

With the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, Congress created the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness areas are managed to preserve their natural conditions and wild character for present and future generations. They possess outstanding ecological, geological, scientific, educational, scenic, or historic values.

Please view the special regulations associated with Wilderness and always use Leave No Trace techniques to help keep these areas wild, clean, and pristine.

Currently the GMUG has a total of approx. 553,000 acres of Wilderness, making up twenty percent of the three-million acre forest (map). These areas include:

• Collegiate Peaks Wilderness
• Fossil Ridge Wilderness
• La Garita Wilderness
• Lizard Head Wilderness
• Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness
• Mt. Sneffels Wilderness
• Powderhorn Wilderness
• Raggeds Wilderness
• Uncompahgre Wilderness
• West Elk Wilderness