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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
Pagoda Peak: 9,168 acres (14.3 square miles)
Ripple Creek Pass: 590 acres (0.9 square miles)
TOTAL: 9,758 acres (15.2 square miles)
How to get there
These
areas are northeast of Buford and northwest of Trappers Lake. Approach
from Rio Blanco County Road 8 (the Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway).
- Just south of Ripple Creek Pass on County Road 8 is the
Pagoda/Chinese Wall trailhead that provides access to both of these
units. The Chinese Wall Trail (1803) goes southeast through the Ripple
Creek Pass RA into the Flat Tops Wilderness Area. On the other side of
the road, the Pagoda Lake Trail (1804) goes northwest into the Pagoda
Peak RA. This trail climbs through Snell Park to Pagoda Lake, then
takes the Williams Fork/White River divide southwest to Dead Horse Road
(see below). The Pagoda Lake Trail is legal for ATVs and motorcycles
from June 15 through August 31.
- The Snell Creek Trail (1810) begins at County Road 8 west of the
Trappers Lake turnoff. This trail climbs along Snell Creek through the
center of the Pagoda Peak RA, and meets the Pagoda Lake Trail in the
northern part of the unit. This trail is legal for motorcycles from
June 15 through August 31.
- The Dead Horse Road (FS 230; 4WD) provides access to the western
boundary of Pagoda Peak RA from County Road 8. It winds up to the
Routt/White River Forest boundary, where you can find the western
trailhead for the Pagoda Lake Trail (1804).
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Pagoda Peak and Ripple Creek Pass RAs are Pagoda Peak, Ripple Creek, and Lost Park.
Setting
The
Ripple Creek Pass RA is adjacent to the Flat Tops Wilderness Area and
occupies the small drainage of the West Fork of Ripple Creek. The
Pagoda Peak RA occupies the large Snell Creek drainage that originates
on the Williams Fork/White River divide and feeds into the North Fork
of the White River. This drainage is very broad and slopes moderately
down to the rounded valley floor. Snell Creek cuts deeply through these
slopes on its route south. Pagoda Peak is the dominant topographical
feature in the area.
These units are remarkable for their
immense stands of aspen, interspersed with a multitude of open
park-like meadows that feature subalpine grasslands. Stands of
Engelmann spruce occur at higher elevations, but many were killed
during the 1950s spruce beetle infestation. As they topple over, they
recycle nutrients back into the soil, fulfilling their very important
role in nutrient cycling. The area receives heavy snowfall, and its
clay loam soils tend to become saturated, causing them to slump and
slip on the shale bedrock underneath. The elevations range from 8,100
feet near the North Fork of the White River to 11,120 on Pagoda Peak.
What’s special about it?
These
areas are very pristine and undisturbed, and provide some of the best
primitive recreation opportunities on the White River National Forest.
Access is good year-round via County Road 8. The landscape is
incredibly scenic, and both units are part of huge roadless areas that
span both the WRNF and the Routt NF to the north. Pagoda Peak, in
particular, is part of one of the largest non-wilderness roadless areas
in Colorado. The area is hard to beat for backpacking, hiking,
horseback riding, fishing, wildlife viewing, and especially big game
hunting.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife has
identified Snell Creek as an area of extremely high priority habitat.
It is a designated recovery stream for the imperiled Colorado River
cutthroat trout. The entire area is important summer range for big game.
Potential threats
Most
of the Pagoda Peak RA has been indentified as having oil and gas
potential and is available for leasing, although no current leases
exist in the area. Advocates should strongly request that this roadless
area NOT be leased for energy development. And, in the
unfortunate event that it does get leased, then the WRNF should impose
non-waivable No Surface Occupancy (NSO) stipulations throughout the
entire roadless area.
Although these areas possess a wealth of
commercially desirable timber, difficult access and wet, boggy soils
have prevented any significant exploration or harvesting it. There is
potential for helicopter-based logging efforts.
Other info
These
areas contain one cattle and one sheep grazing allotment and their
associated stock ponds and fences. A stock driveway crosses the
northern portion of the Ripple Creek Pass RA. Conservation groups have
identified 1,033 acres of roadless area in addition to the amount
recognized by the USFS. Much of this is attached to the Ripple Creek
Pass RA on its NE and SW borders. Ripple Creek Pass is one of nine RAs
that abut the Flat Tops Wilderness to form a massive roadless complex
of over 342,000 acres (533 square miles), the largest on the White
River National Forest! In addition to that, the Pagoda Peak RA is
contiguous with a large RA of the same name on the Routt National
Forest and the Morapos RA on the White River. Together, they comprise a
single roadless area of over 104,000 acres (162 square miles)!
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