The Flat Tops Wilderness Area is the third largest U.S. Wilderness Area in Colorado. It is 235,214 acres (951.88 km²), with 38,870 acres (157.3 km²) in Routt National Forest and 196,344 acres (794.58 km²) in White River National Forest. It was designated a wilderness area in 1975. Trappers Lake, located in the north of the area, was the lake that inspired Arthur Carhart, a U.S. Forest service official, to plead for wilderness preservation.

History

The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service designated 118,230 acres of the Routt and White River National Forests as the Flat Tops Primitive Area on March 4, 1932, to be managed to protect the area’s wild values.

Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, which, among other things, required the Secretary of Agriculture to review the suitability of all primitive areas for inclusion into the national wilderness system within ten years. Following this mandate, the U.S. Forest Service evaluated the Flat Tops primitive area and surrounding forest and in 1967 recommended 142,230 acres for wilderness designation.