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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
Wildcat Mountain A: 3,513 acres (5.5 square miles)
Wildcat Mountain B: 2,322 acres (3.6 square miles)
Wildcat Mountain C: 4,690 acres (7.3 square miles)
TOTAL: 10,525 acres (16.4 square miles)
How to get there
The
Wildcat Mountain roadless areas are located immediately southeast of
Thomasville, 10 miles west of Leadville, and 10 miles northeast of
Aspen. Approach them from the Fryingpan Road (FS 105), which begins in
Basalt.
- Drive up the Fryingpan Road, past Ruedi Reservoir. Just past
Thomasville, Wildcat Mountain A RA begins on your right. At the Norrie
Colony, turn onto the Norrie Road (FS 504; improved dirt), which
divides Units A and B. You may turn right onto FS 504.1E to reach
Chapman Gulch Trailhead (1920), or stay on the Norrie Road to its
terminus at the South Fork Trailhead (1940) on the South Fork of the
Fryingpan River. The latter trail travels south to meet the Lost Man
Loop Trail and State Highway 82.
- Further up the Fryingpan Road is the Chapman Campground, which
provides foot access into the Units B and A via a nonsystem trail that
leads to the Sawyer Lake Trail (1926). Past the campground, the Nast
Road separates Units B and C. It also provides access to the Granite
Lakes Trail (1922).
- Past Nast, the Fryingpan Lakes Road (FS 505; improved dirt)
penetrates deeply into the Wildcat Mountain C RA. This road ends at the
Fryingpan Lakes Trailhead (1921). To reach the eastern end of these
roadless areas, stay on the Fryingpan Road (FS 105), and follow signs
to Hagerman Pass. Just before the road gets rough below the pass, turn
right on FS 527 and go to Ivanhoe Reservoir along the eastern boundary
of Unit C. The road past the reservoir winds westward up to the Betty
Bear Hut of the 10th Mountain Hut Association.
- The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the Wildcat Mountain RAs are Meredith,
Nast, Mount Champion. and small amounts on Homestake Reservoir, and
Mount Massive.
Setting
These
roadless areas occupy lands in the upper Fryingpan River drainage on
the northern border of the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area. Each of
the three units contains land that fills in corridors around roads that
follow Chapman Gulch, South Fork of the Fryingpan River, and the
Fryingpan River. These areas occupy narrow strips of riparian
vegetation with small meadows.
In addition to the narrow riparian
areas, each unit has a fatter section. Wildcat Mountain A occupies
steep, timbered, northeast-facing slopes above the confluence of the
North Fork of the Fryingpan, and the main Fryingpan River. Wildcat
Mountain B occupies the flat valley bottom of the Chapman area, and
features lakes and wetland meadows. Wildcat Mountain C occupies Wildcat
Mountain, a granite-topped ridge that divides Ivanhoe Creek from the
Fryingpan River. Each unit features large areas of Engelmann
spruce/subalpine fir forest and scattered aspen stands. Elevations in
the units range from about 8,000 feet near Thomasville, to 12,094 feet
on Wildcat Mountain.
What’s special about it?
The
Fryingpan River corridor is lined with public and private recreational
developments, including Thomasville, Diamond Joy Ranch, Norrie colony,
Chapman Campground, Nast, and Ivanhoe Reservoir. These roadless areas
provide a buffer between these developments and the pristine
Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness. These units provide people with hiking,
camping, fishing, hunting, biking, and skiing
opportunities in a relatively wild area. They contain all of the access
points to the north side of the Wilderness Area. The Betty Bear Hut,
cherry stemmed into Wildcat Mountain C, is a popular backcountry ski
destination.
Potential threats
There
is potential for further development of private lands along the
Fryingpan River. There has been extensive development of water
diversion tunnels in the area. The Chapman Gulch, South Fork, Fryingpan
Lakes, and Ivanhoe Lake Roads were all constructed to access the ends
of various tunnels which combine to divert water from the Fryingpan
drainage underneath the Continental Divide to the Arkansas River basin.
There is no end in sight for front range water demands and it's
reasonable that the headwaters of the Frying Pan could be further
diverted with negative impacts to roadless areas in these headwaters.
There is also accessible timber in these areas that may one day attract
commercial attention.
Other info
In
addition to the acreage recognized by the USFS in this unit,
convervationists have identified 1,239 more acres of roadless
area. These are mostly between the Ivanhoe Lake Road and Hagerman Pass.
The Wildcat Mountain roadless areas are three of seven that are
contiguous with the Hunter-Fryingpan and Mount Massive Wilderness
Areas. Together, these comprise a roadless complex of over 144,000
acres (225 square miles)!
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