Pagoda Peak & Ripple Creek Pass Roadless Areas

Adoption Status: NOT 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 these giants topple over, they fulfill their role in nutrient cycle by releasing their bound up nutrients back into the soil. 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. 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.

Although these areas possess a wealth of commercially desirable timber, difficult access and wet, boggy soils have prevented any significant exploration of harvesting it. There is potential for helicopter-based logging efforts. Heavy snowmobile use through the park-like terrain of these areas is problematic, as these vehicles are supposed to remain on designated routes.