West Lake Creek

3,363 acres (5.3 square miles)

How to get there
The proposed West Lake Creek Wilderness Area is located 5 miles southwest of Edwards.

• To access the proposed West Lake Creek Wilderness Area, get off I-80 at Edwards (Exit 163), cross the Eagle River, and go west on State Highway 6 past the trailer park. Turn south onto CR 23, Squaw Creek Road. From the road closure, you may hike Squaw Creek Trail (1897) around a private parcel and up Squaw Creek along the Holy Cross Wilderness boundary to the Bellyache Road.
• From West Lake Creek Road (FS 423), on the eastern boundary of the unit, access is blocked by private property
• The USGS 7 1⁄2’ quads for the proposed West Lake Creek Wilderness Area are Grouse Mountain and Fulford.

Setting
The proposed West Lake Creek Wilderness Area occupies parts of the Squaw Creek, Casteel Creek, and Card Creek drainages on the east side of Bellyache Mountain, in the northern foothills of the Sawatch Range. Bellyache Mountain is a broad flat-topped ridge with large open parks on its top. The creeks cut steeply into its flanks. The area is forested by Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir, interspersed with large stands of aspen. Elevations range from 8,000 feet at Squaw Creek to 10,460 feet above upper Salt Creek.

What’s special about it?
These areas are important summer range for deer and elk, and they receive moderate hunting traffic in the fall. Squaw Creek is a popular day-hiking area.

Potential threats
The primary threat to this area is illegal off-road vehicle use. This activity is rampant, particularly in the Porphyry Mountain and Bellyache Mountain areas. Not only has this resulted in the creation of several user-developed trails, but has also caused the USFS to delete 4,969 acres from the west half of the Salt Creek roadless area due to excessive vehicular use which essentially cedes public lands management to a few lawless renegades. Residential home development on nearby private lands is eliminating the wildlife habitat value on those private lands, making it all the more important to protect wildlands such as this for the habitat values they provide.