White River National Forest
Perhaps more than any other national forest, White River National
Forest is dedicated to outdoor recreation. Aspen and Vail, two towns
that exemplify base camps at their most glamorous, nestle in its rugged
folds. The two million acre White River National Forest is one of the
largest and oldest national forests in the Rocky Mountains. Its located
in north central Colorado, west of the Continental Divide. Interstate
70 splits the forest into north/south sections. And guess what, I-70 is
a major corridor for ski resorts.
Much of the White River is designated wilderness - and there's a
history to this. In 1920, Arthur Carhart, a landscape architect for the
Forest Service, balked at his assignment of surveying property along
Trappers Lake for vacation homes. He wrote a memo to his superiors that
recommended leaving the area wild. The eventual result was the fabled
Flat Tops Wilderness. The southern section of the forest has even more
wilderness, most notably Maroon Bells-Snowmass and Holy Cross, which at
one time was on its way to becoming a national park.
More wilderness may be in White River's future. A recent land inventory
of the forest revealed many roadless areas ripe for wilderness
designation. You would have to be a vacuum-skulled zombie to be bored
in the White River National Forest. The region is calculated to get you
outdoors.
41FOther pages you might find helpful:
The White River National Forest
Visit the forest service website for the White River National Forest.
