Steamboat Springs: Parks and Gardens

Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area, 159,935 acres, is considered as one of the five original Colorado wilderness areas which have been designated the 1964 Wilderness Act. Mount Zirkel and its lakes owe the present shape to Pleistocene glaciations 15,000 years ago. One important attribute of Mount Zirkel is its miles of river valleys. There are two major rivers in this wilderness, Encampment and Elk, both of which has been proposed official designation as wild scenic rivers.