No Name

3,829 acres (6.0 square miles)

How to get there
The proposed No Name Addition to the Holy Corss Wilderness Area is located about 8 miles north of Leadville to the west of Tennessee Pass.

• Access to the proposed Wilderness Area is from US Highway 24 between Leadville and Red Cliff. The eastern boundary of the Area is No Name Road (FS 705), which you can get to on its south end just below the south side of Tennessee Pass, or on its north end near Pando, about 4 miles south of Red Cliff. This road is not plowed in winter. There are no maintained hiking trails in this unit, although an unmaintained trail climbs south from FS 705 along the Homestake Ridge on the western boundary of the unit. This route provides a wonderful overview of the area, particularly upper Bennett Gulch.
• The USGS 7 1/2' quads for the proposed No Name Wilderness Area are Pando, Mountain of the Holy Cross, and Leadville North.

Setting
The proposed No Name Addition to the Holy Cross Wilderness Area is dominated by the high Homestake Ridge along the Continental Divide, and the Bennett Gulch drainage to the Eagle River. The head of Bennett Gulch at Homestake Ridge is a rugged, glacier-formed cirque, below which sits an extensive wet subalpine meadow system in the drainage. The ridge supports an alpine environment, and gives way to uplands forested with Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. Closer to FS 705, lodgepole pines and aspens are present.

The elevation ranges from 10,600 feet (on FS 705) to 12,696 feet (at the head of Bennett Gulch). While much of the terrain is rolling forest, the Homestake and Continental Divide ridges are protected by very steep talus slopes.

What’s special about it?
The proposed No Name Addition is adjacent to the SE portion of the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, and has retained a high degree of wilderness quality. The unit has historically been free from human disturbance, and is an excellent place to experience solitude in a pristine alpine setting. Hiking along Homestake Ridge provides outstanding views of the Sawatch Range. The 10th Mountain Hut is just south of the proposed Wilderness Area and provides backcountry skiing access. This landscape also sees a moderate amount of use by hunters.
The extensive wet meadows in upper Bennett Gulch are prime examples of subalpine wetlands. This landscape contains habitat for the state-endangered lynx (the USFWS recognizes the lynx as threatened nationwide), and is part of a very important wildlife migration corridor along the Continental Divide helping connect the Holy Cross Wilderness with the Eagles Nest Wilderness Areas. The Colorado Division of Wildlife may introduce bighorn sheep here, which would be critical winter habitat for that species. It is also already summer range for both elk and mule deer.

Potential threats
The Yoder timber sale has been proposed in the northern portion of this proposed Wilderness Area, and would necessitate road construction in that area. The unmaintained trail along Homestake Ridge from FS 705 is occasionally illegally used by 4WD vehicles. The vehicle tracks may be seen crossing delicate sections of alpine tundra, tracks could be evident for decades. 

Other info
A small and undeveloped private inholding exists in upper Bennett Gulch. The proposed No Name Wilderness Area is one of ten Roadless Areas that, with the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, comprise a large roadless complex of over 165,000 acres (257 square miles). It is contiguous with the 7,700 acre Holy Cross East Roadless Area on the San Isabel National Forest.