Ghost Forest, Trappers Lake, Colorado
“Cradle of Wilderness”
Cold wax and oil
20 x 16" plus frame
Private collection
In 1919 young Arthur Carhart was hired by the Forest service to survey for a road to the lake.
He concluded:
"There are a number of places with scenic values of such great worth that they are rightfully the property of all people. They should be preserved for all time for the people of the Nation and the world. Trappers Lake is unquestionably a candidate for that classification."
As a result of Carhart’s collaboration with Aldo Leopold, the area was included in the Flat Tops Primitive Area in 1932. Their idea birthed the Wilderness Act of 1964, and the 235,000-acre Flat Tops Wilderness Area was formally recognized in 1975.
In 2002 the Big Fish fire burned through the area, altering the landscape that so moved Carhart. When we visited Trappers Lake in 2017, it was surrounded by a ghost forest.