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Adoption Status: ADOPTED
9,545 acres (14.9 square miles)
How to get there
There are three main access points into the Woods Lake RA, all of which are closed in winter.
- From Eagle, drive south on Brush Creek Road, which becomes FS 400
at the forest boundary. After about two miles East Brush Creek Road (FS
415) branches off to the left (east), and travels to Yeoman Park. There
is a campground here and a winter road closure. To reach the north end
of the RA, take Hat Creek Road (FS 416) up the hill to the west. This
road winds back to the SE and eventually reaches the Peter Estin Hut on
the Lime Ck/Brush Ck divide. This is the northern boundary of the unit.
From the hut, you can take the Charles Peak Trail (1873) east into the
Holy Cross Wilderness, or navigate south on an abandoned trail down the
west fork of Little Lime Creek to Crooked Creek Reservoir. There is
also a 10th Mountain winter route that goes south from the hut into
Lime Park, and allows passage to the Harry Gates Hut, which is on the
western boundary of the unit.
- From Crooked Creek Pass, on the Eagle-Thomasville Road (FS 400),
you can take FS 416 NE to the Peter Estin Hut (see above). To reach
Woods Lake, go SE from the pass, turn left on Burnt Mountain Road (FS
506), and take another left on Woods Lake Road (FS 507) which reaches
the lake after 1.5 miles. The lake is on private land, but there is a
trailhead for the Eagle Lake Trail (1915) which takes Lime Creek into
the Holy Cross Wilderness, and the Woods Lake Trail (1928), which
climbs SE toward Tellurium Park.
- To reach the Tellurium Lake Trail (1917) and the Last Chance Trail
(1945), take FS 506 south from the Lime Park/Woods Lake area (see
above). If approaching from the Fryingpan River, bear left on the North
Fork Road (FS 501) at Biglow, a couple of miles past Thomasville, and
take FS 506 from its south end, near Elk Wallow campground. The Last
Chance/Tellurium Lake Trails make a nice loop (with a bike shuttle),
and can be used to access Josephine Lake in the Holy Cross Wilderness.
- The USGS 7 1/2’ quads for Woods Lake RA are Crooked Creek Pass, Mount Jackson, Meredith , and Nast.
Setting
The
Woods Lake RA is a westward extension of the Holy Cross Wilderness Area
reaching from the Wilderness boundary to existing roads. It
includes parts of Lime Creek, Little Lime Creek, Last Chance Creek, and
all of Middle Creek, which support riparian willow ecosystems. Woods
Lake itself is a large natural lake. The terrain consists of gently
rolling hillsides covered in aspen, lodgepole, and spruce/fir forests.
There are two major peaks on the boundary of the unit (Charles Peak and
Burnt Mountain), both of which have alpine characteristics. The
unit contains the NE portion of Lime Park, which is the most extensive
meadow system in the Fryingpan drainage. The elevation ranges from
8,800 feet at the North Fork Fryingpan River to 12,050 feet at Charles
Pk.
What’s special about it?
Because
Woods Lake RA is adjacent to existing wilderness, it has retained
significant wilderness quality. It provides a critical mid-elevation
buffer to the high peaks of the Holy Cross region from the recreational
activities occurring around the huts, private lands, and road network
over Crooked Creek Pass. It is also an obvious wildlife movement
corridor between the Red Table/Gypsum Creek/Basalt Mountain areas and
the Holy X Wilderness via Crooked Creek Pass. There is a large,
ecologically-valuable beaver pond complex on Little Lime Creek. The
southern portion of the unit is in the Colorado Natural Heritage
Program’s North Fork Fryingpan River Potential Conservation Area.
The area has unique karst hydrology, in
which large volumes of water flow underground through limestone caverns
and discharge from springs. This has led to the development of many
caves, which in turn provide rare habitat for sensitive bat species. In
a meadow NW of Tellurium Park, at the junction of the Woods Lake and
Tellurium Lake trails, there is an unnamed stream that plunges hundreds
of feet into a narrow sinkhole, where the stream continues underground.
Drop a stone down there and listen for the splash about four seconds
later.
This unit contains the Peter Estin and
Harry Gates Huts in the 10th Mountain hut system, and is a popular
backcountry skiing destination. It also provides excellent
opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain
biking, and cave exploration.
Potential threats
Timber
sales have been proposed south of Last Chance Creek and in the
Tellurium Lake Trail area, but have not been pursued yet. Such activity
would require new road construction in this unit. The area's relatively
flat, open meadows may invite illegal motorized route development.
Other info
The
Woods Lake roadless area is the largest of ten roadless areas that
adjoin with the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, to form a roadless complex
of over 165,000 acres (257 square miles). The USFS has recommended
9,553 of these acres to be included in Holy Cross Wilderness Area.
Conservation groups have identified 4,803 additional roadless acres on
the north end of Woods Lake RA, stretching from Peter Estin Hut to
Fulford and the Polar Star Inn. |
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