New restrictions in place to protect South Clear Creek watershed
IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo. (Feb. 5, 2018) – Signs are being posted to announce new restrictions along the Guanella Pass road corridor on the Clear Creek Ranger District of the Arapaho National Forest, effective March 1, 2018.
Concentrated impacts from visitors are causing safety concerns, resource damage and threatening the Town of Georgetown’s water supply. To reduce these impacts, the order restricts use between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., including parking, camping and campfires in undesignated areas within a quarter-mile of Guanella Pass Road, portions of Leavenworth Road and all of Silver Dollar Lake Road.
Visitors may still camp and have campfires in one of five developed campgrounds along the road corridor, including 70 developed campsites and 30 designated dispersed sites; park in designated parking areas at any time; hike the Mount Bierstadt Trail at any time; backpack out of the restricted area to camp; and use the area during non-restricted times for parking, picnicking, hiking, biking, fishing, hunting and viewing wildlife.
Guanella Pass spans both the Arapaho National Forest and the Pike National Forest and Pass was designated a National Scenic Byway in 1991. The area is popular for a variety of recreational activities, including camping, fishing, hiking, biking and viewing scenery and wildlife.
These new restrictions will provide management consistency along Guanella Pass. Similar dispersed camping and parking restrictions were implemented on the south side of the Guanella Pass summit in 2015.
Increasing recreation use along the corridor has been driven largely by Colorado’s population growth of more than 100,000 people a year over the past decade; compounded by completion of major road reconstruction and paving of the corridor in 2016.
Notice of the new restrictions will be posted along the corridor, on social and traditional media sources, and through our partners and cooperators to give ample time to notify the public. The order is temporary, and the Forest will monitor the area to assess whether resource conditions are improving.
Dispersed camping is allowed across most of the National Forest. A good resource for finding dispersed camping that’s easily accessible by road is to check the Motor Vehicle Use Map. The map is available for free online at
www.fs.usda.gov/goto/arp/maps, through the Avenza app on your smart phone, or at the Idaho Springs Visitors Center.
