West Elk Wilderness
Gunnison National Forest

West Elk Wilderness on the Gunnison National Forest contains about 176,000 acres ranging in elevation from 7,000' to more than 13,000'. More than 200 miles of constructed trails are available for both foot and horse travel through often rugged terrain. Mill Castle Trail is one of the most rugged and scenic trails in this Wilderness. Points of interest include: the Castles, West Elk Peak, Sheep Lake, North, Middle and South Baldy Mountains, and East and West Beckwith Mountains.

This beautiful countryside gets very little traffic until fall hunting season rolls around: the deer and elk population is numbered in the thousands. Other than that, there's hardly anyone out here most of the time. So you'd be free to cross mountain pass after mountain pass and fully explore secluded, aspen-filled valleys with fishable beaver ponds lying below the eroded turrets, pinnacles and gendarmes lining the serrated ridges and standing guard over the fantastic rock formations.