Bowen Gulch Protection Area

The Bowen Gulch Protection Area is located about 6 miles northwest of the town of Grand Lake and adjacent to both the Never Summer Wilderness and Rocky Mountain National Park. The area includes 10,649 acres with no private inholdings. Elevations range from 1 1,686 feet on Blue Ridge to 8,806 feet near the Colorado River. Most of the area is forested with lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and aspen. Alpine meadows occur on Blue Ridge. A large portion of the geographic area includes one of the best examples of the spruce-fir, old-growth ecosystem on the Arapaho National Forest. The major streams in the area include the headwaters of Bowen Gulch, North, South, and Middle Supply, and Stillwater Creeks. There are no lakes.