The Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the Elk Mountains of central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. The wilderness was established in 1980 in the Gunnison and White River national forests. Within its boundaries are of trails, six of Colorado's

fourteeners In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...

and nine passes over . The wilderness is named after the two peaks known as the

Maroon Bells The Maroon Bells are two peaks in the Elk Mountains, Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak, separated by about half a kilometer (0.3 miles). The mountains are on the border between Pitkin County and Gunnison County, Colorado, United States, about s ...

, and the Snowmass Mountain.

References

Wilderness areas of Colorado Protected areas of Pitkin County, Colorado Protected areas of Gunnison County, Colorado Protected areas established in 1980 Gunnison National Forest White River National Forest 1980 establishments in Colorado {{Colorado-protected-area-stub