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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
20,099 acres (31.4 square miles)
How to get there
The Sloan Peak roadless area is located 3 miles east of Basalt and about 9 miles north of Aspen.
- To approach the north side of the Sloan Peak RA, start from Basalt.
Midland Avenue becomes the Fryingpan Road (FS 105) and heads east. As
you drive up the Fryingpan River, the roadless area is on your right.
At the lower end of Ruedi Reservoir, the Rocky Fork Trail (1931) enters
the unit and climbs up to Kobey Park above Lenado. This is the only
hiking access from the north. From the Meredith Guard Station, at the
upper end of Ruedi Reservoir, the Conroy Gulch Jeep Trail (FS 522)
makes up the east boundary of the unit.
- The Arbaney-Kittle Trail (2186) travels along the divide across the
roadless area. Its western trailhead is located about two miles
southeast of Basalt. From State Highway (SH) 82, turn onto Bishop Drive
into the Holland Hills subdivision and follow signs to the
Arbaney-Kittle Trailhead.
- You may also access the area from the Red Rim Road (FS 534; 4WD).
This is better to hike than to drive. This road begins at the upper end
of Snowmass Canyon. Turn off of SH 82 onto Upper River Road (County
Road (CR) 17), cross the river, and make a sharp left onto Lower River
Road (CR 16). Red Rim Road will be on your right. This route climbs up
to Triangle Peak and beyond to meet the Arbaney-Kittle Trail (2186).
- To approach the southeast section of the unit, approach from Woody
Creek, by taking Lenado Road (CR 18) to the southeast. The Lenado Road
becomes FS 103 at the forest boundary. Go past Lenado toward Larkspur
Mountain and go straight onto Kobey Park Road (FS 508) at a fork. A
right turn onto FS 528 will bring you to the upper Rocky Fork Trailhead
(1931). FS 508 passes through a rat’s nest of ineffectively closed
timber roads that sit on the southern boundary of the roadless area.
The eastern end of the Arbaney-Kittle Trail is here, on FS 513, in the
Kobey Park area.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Sloan Peak RA are Meredith, Ruedi Reservoir, Woody Creek, and Toner Reservoir.
Setting
The
Sloan Peak roadless area is located on the divide between the lower
Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers. The divide itself is a rolling ridge
with very steep slopes fall away to the rivers on either sides. These
slopes are highly dissected by numerous minor creeks. In the eastern
portion of the unit, Rocky Fork Creek carves a spectacular 1,500
foot-deep canyon through the sandstone bedrock.
The area has a wide diversity of
vegetation from Engelmann spruce/subalpine fir forest on the divide,
Douglas fir in the draws, aspen stands in between, to Gambel oak and
sagebrush on the steep hillsides. The elevations range from 7,200 feet
near the Roaring Fork River, to 10,700 in the Kobey Park area.
What’s special about it?
The Sloan Peak roadless area has great topographical diversity and a wide range of habitat types. This
large area is a continuous mid-elevation corridor from the
Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness to the confluence of the Roaring Fork and
Fryingpan Rivers. While the gentle terrain to the south of the unit has
been heavily logged, the steep slopes of this unit have discouraged
human intrusion and development, leaving the area quite wild. The
Arbaney-Kittle Trail along the divide, and the Rocky Fork Trail both
receive regular use, including from mountain-bikers, but the rest of
the area is undisturbed.
Cerise Gulch, in the western portion of
the roadless area, is being studied by the Colorado Natural Heritage
Program as a potential 2,400-acre Research Natural Area. This is
primarily due to its excellent representation of lower-elevation plant
communities. The area contains valuable winter range for big game. The
deep and narrow canyon of Rocky Fork Creek is a natural spectacle
unlike anything else in the Fryingpan or Roaring Fork watersheds.
Potential threats
There
is certainly potential for further timber harvesting in the Kobey Park
area. This would necessitate the construction of even more timber
roads, which would likely later be used for motorcycle recreation.
There are private parcels on the eastern boundary of the unit, and if
developed, an improved road would likely connect Meredith to Lenado,
further fragmenting the area from the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area.
Other info
The
USFS omitted 11,339 roadless acres from the Sloan Peak roadless area.
On the east edge, this is because a swath of private parcels exists
between the RA and roadless acres adjacent to the Wilderness. On the
south side, around Red Canyon, they derive their logic from regular,
illegal motorcycle use that occurs on trails in that area.
Motorized singletracks are not roads, so the omission of that many
acres is dubious. According to conservation groups, the size of the
Sloan Peak roadless area is 31,438 acres (49.0 square miles)!
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