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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
11,742 acres (18.3 square miles)
How to get there
The Hardscrabble roadless area is located 6 miles south of Gypsum. Approach the area from Gypsum or Eagle.
- To approach the western and southern portions of this area, take
Valley Road (County Road 101) due south from the Town of Gypsum. This
road becomes Gypsum Creek Road (FS 412; improved gravel) at the forest
boundary. From this road, two trails ascend into the Hardscrabble RA.
The first is the Dry Miller Trail (1865), and about 3 miles southeast
on FS 412 is the Yates Gulch Trail (1864). Both of these climb to join
the West Hardscrabble Trail (2222) below the crest of Hardscrabble
Mountain. You may take Gypsum Creek Road all the way to the southeast
corner of the unit, where you will meet Hardscrabble Road (FS 413) on
your left. This road is the northeast boundary of the unit and is
described below.
- To approach the area from Eagle, go southeast on Brush Creek Road
(CR 307), and turn left onto Hardscrabble Road (CR 110; improved
gravel), which becomes FS 413 at the forest boundary. The road becomes
high clearance/4WD as it approaches the crest of Hardscrabble Mountain
and continues southeast along the ridge. Before Hardscrabble Road meets
Gypsum Creek Road, you can find the eastern trailhead for West
Hardscrabble Trail (2222). This traverses the length of the roadless
area crossing the heads of many drainages on the west side of the
Hardscrabble crest.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Hardscrabble RA are Suicide Mountain, Seven Hermits, and Red Creek.
Setting
Hardscrabble
is a rugged ridge, eight miles long, that runs NW/SE and divides Gypsum
Creek from Brush Creek. The Hardscrabble roadless area occupies the
entire Gypsum Creek side of the mountain. The terrain on this side of
Hardscrabble is very steep and deeply dissected by twelve creeks that
plunge into Gypsum Creek. These slopes are generally brushy and open,
while the top of Hardscrabble is covered in spruce/fir forest. The
elevation at Gypsum Creek is 7,200 feet and rises dramatically to
10,499 on top of Hardscrabble Mountain.
What’s special about it?
Limited
access to the interior of this large unit provides an outstanding
opportunity to experience solitude in a rugged and scenic landscape.
The area has fabulous hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking,
but overall use is quite low. It is a moderately popular hunting
destination as well. This unit is a critical transitional zone for big
game who graze along the top of Hardscrabble in the summer months and
use the steeper, bare slopes as winter range.
Potential threats
The
area to the northwest of the unit, on the gentler side of Hardscrabble
Mountain, was previously logged, and a network of old roads exists
there. Motorized use has been increasing rapidly in this area, with
motorists using these old roads as access points to blaze new routes
into the roadless area. As a result, conflict between motorized and
non-motorized users has been on the rise. A large portion of the area
is currently managed as a completely non-motorized area, so the
motorized incursions into this zone are illegally
trespassing. The steeper, bare slopes in the unit are prohibitive to
development of any kind. High value Englemann spruce could be targeted
for harvest in the future.
Other info
In
their roadless inventory, the USFS omitted 2,055 roadless acres from
the Hardscrabble RA in the northern portion of the area. Their logic:
Flat terrain and proximity to timber roads makes these acres impossible
to manage as “roadless.” This is another example of the WRNF confusing
their inability to manage illegal uses with their duty to identify an
actual on-the-ground condition of roadlessness.
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