| Located in the Arapaho and Pike National Forest the Mt. Evans Wilderness was congressionally designated in 1980. The 74,401-acre area is located 40 miles southwest of Denver.Elevations in the wilderness range from 8,400 to over 14,000 feet. The area is dominated by 14,264 foot Mount Evans and 14,060 foot Mount Bierstadt. About half of the wilderness area is above timberline. The alpine area is characterized by broad expanses of treeless alpine tundra, edged at its lower elevations by krummholz habitat formed of wind-etched and deformed spruce and fir along with stands of bristlecone pine. Broad, thick stands of spruce-fir and lodgepole pine stretch out into the lower valleys. The Mount Goliath Natural Area, on the east side of the road, is home to a stand of 2,000 year-old bristlecone pines.The shape of the area is influenced heavily by alpine glaciations. Surrounding the peaks is deep, steeply faced glacial cirques often holding alpine lakes. Broad U-shaped glacial valleys drop away from the peaks into hummocky, moraine covered valley bottoms, followed by narrow V-shaped canyons. |
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