| Adoption Status: NOT ADOPTED
7,171 acres (11.2 square miles)
How to get there
The
Game Creek roadless area is located immediately south of West Vail and
east of Minturn. Access to the area is from State Highway 24.
- Just north of the Town of Minturn is a trailhead for the lush Game Creek Trail (2130), which climbs to Vail Ski Area.
- To reach the fabulous Two Elk Trail (2005), cross the Eagle River
at Minturn and take the old road to the south. This road ends at a
group of undeveloped campsites (popular for shooting), and the Two Elk
trailhead. This trail travels over Two Elk Pass to I-70.
- Battle Mountain and the southern boundary of the unit can be reached from Redcliff.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Game Creek RA are Minturn and Red Cliff.
Setting
High
ridges covered in spruce/fir forests funnel through the lush riparian
systems of Two Elk and Game Creeks into the Eagle River. The uplands
fall away dramatically above Minturn, forming a precipitous 2,000
foot-high wall of earth that features numerous large Precambrian
granite outcrops. The elevation ranges from 7,800 near Dowd Junction to
10,900 feet at Battle Mountain.
What’s special about it?
This
area provides a buffer between heavy development in the West Vail and
Minturn areas, and the expanding Vail Ski Area. A large herd of elk use
the Game Creek roadless area as a transitional zone between their
winter range at Dowd Junction and their summer range near Stafford
Creek. A significant amount of elk calving occurs in the Two Elk
drainage.
Trails along Game Creek, Two Elk Creek,
and up to Lionshead are all extremely popular in summer, and provide an
important recreational resource for the Towns of Minturn and Vail. Game
Creek is a popular backcountry ski route from Vail Ski Area to Minturn.
Fossilized trees that exist in the Lionshead area are an important
educational and scientific resource as well.
Potential threats
The
encroachment of human developments on all sides of this area threaten
its integrity and its viability as an elk travel corridor. The southern
portion of the area is under management for timber production, and
future harvesting would detract from the naturalness of the area. A
enormous private resort development proposed for private lands on the
south end of this unit would severely impact its values as a wildlife
movement corridor, likely driving animals formally using that corridor
into undeveloped areas like the Game Creek RA, further underscoring the
importance of maintaining its as a whole ecological unit.
Read Kate and Carl Cocchiarella's letter on behalf of Corral Creek, East Vail and Game Creek RAs.
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