Sheep and Little Sheep Mountains

Sheep (10,635') and Little Sheep (9,679') Mountains are in a line heading northward from Mt. Mestas. Both of these mountains are composed of the same granitic stock materials as Mt. Mestas, Silver Mountain, Rough Mountain, and the Spanish Peaks. Climbing on them is climbing mostly on boulders and loose talus slopes. Even under the trees nearly everything is loose.

ARCO was drilling in this area a number of years ago, looking for natural gas. What they found was a large bubble of carbon dioxide. These days there is a pipeline running from this area down to the Permian Basin in west Texas carrying that CO₂ to be pumped down injection wells to force more oil out.

The "mass" of both of these mountains is owned by the BLM, however, there is at least one subdivision of 35-40 acre properties at the foot of them bordering on the BLM. Forget utilities ("the grid") in most of the area. In my travels around these mountains the only road that seems to get regular maintenance is Pass Creek Road on the west side. I've been over several of the county roads on the east side and most of them are unmarked, never mind regularly maintained.