The Mount Massive Wilderness is a federally designated

wilderness area Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural) are Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human activity, or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally ...

in the

Sawatch Range The Sawatch Range or Saguache RangeThe place name "Saguache” is pronounced “Sawatch” . This name derives from the Ute language noun "''sawup''" meaning "sand dunes" and is spelled using the Spanish language version of this name "Saguach ...

, located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It is operated jointly by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

and the

Fish and Wildlife Service A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed fis ...

as part of the

San Isabel National Forest San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Col ...

and the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. It is in size, with in San Isabel National Forest and in Leadville National Fish Hatchery, and it was designated by the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

in 1980. The name comes from

Mount Massive Mount Massive (Arapaho: ''Hiwoxuu hookuhu'ee'') is the second-highest summit of the Rocky Mountains of North America and the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the Mount Massive Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, west-southwes ...

, the second highest peak in Colorado, located inside the wilderness. Elevations in the wilderness range from to . It is the only federally designated wilderness area within the

National Fish Hatchery System The National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) was established by the U.S. Congress in 1871 through the creation of a U.S. Commissioner for Fish and Fisheries. This system of fish hatcheries is now administered by the Fisheries Program of the U.S. Fish ...

. On the west side, the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

separates the Mount Massive Wilderness from the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness, part of the

White River National Forest White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited National Forest in the United States, primarily from users of the twel ...

. Trailheads accessing the wilderness are: * Hagerman Pass Road – The Colorado Trail, Native Lake and Windsor Lake Trailhead * US Fish Hatchery – The Rock Creek Trailhead * Halfmoon Creek Trailhead – Mt. Elbert/Mt. Massive Trailhead and the North Halfmoon Lake Trailhead

Regulations/Prohibitions

* Having more than 15 persons in any one group * Having more than a combination of 25 people and pack or saddle animals in any one stock group * Possessing dogs, except for working stock dogs, or dogs used for legal hunting purposes, unless under physical restraint of a leash. * Camping within one hundred feet of developed trails. * Building, maintaining, attending, or using a campfire, within 100 feet of lakes, streams and forest development trails. * Hitching, hobbling or tethering any pack or saddle animal within one hundred (100) feet of lakes, streams and forest development trails. * Short-cutting a switchback on a forest development trail.

References

External links

Mount Massive Wilderness: Forest Service official site

Mount Massive Wilderness on TopoQuest

Protected areas of Lake County, Colorado Wilderness areas of Colorado Protected areas established in 1980 San Isabel National Forest {{Colorado-protected-area-stub

Regulations/Prohibitions

References

Further reading

External links