Blue Mountain

The Blue Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area occupies 21,648 acres of montane plateau in the Abajo Mountains — also known as the Blue Mountains — on the Monticello Ranger District of the Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah's San Juan County. The area rises from the surrounding canyon country to a broken upper plateau marked by named ridges, peaks, and meadows: Aspen Flat, Duckett Ridge, Bob Park Peak, Mount Linnaeus, West Mountain, Jackson Ridge, Shay Ridge, the broad open ground of Robertson Pasture, and the cliff-banded escarpments at Red Bluffs and Red Ledges. Allen Canyon and Tuerto Canyon cut into the unit from the west, and The Causeway crosses the height of land. Water flows from the Upper North Cottonwood Creek headwaters (HUC12 140300050802); the upper drainage feeds Cherry Creek, Bear Creek, Blue Creek, and North Cottonwood Creek and gathers into Blue Creek Reservoir below the unit.

Forest communities track elevation and aspect across the Abajo dome. The lowest fringes carry Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland, interfingered with Intermountain Mountain Sagebrush Steppe on south-facing benches. Above the pinyon belt, Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Ponderosa Pine Savanna open onto broad parks. Sheltered north-facing slopes carry Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest, transitioning upward to Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest and, in the wettest pockets, Rocky Mountain Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest. Extensive stands of Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest and Intermountain Aspen and Conifer Forest cover the middle slopes — the feature most visible from the surrounding canyon country in autumn. Above the closed conifer canopy, Northern Rockies Subalpine Grassland and Rocky Mountain Subalpine Meadow open onto cold ridges, with isolated stands of Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland on rocky exposures. The highest summits hold pockets of Rocky Mountain Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland. Along the canyon bottoms, Rocky Mountain Foothill and Subalpine Streamside Woodlands line the wetter reaches.

Because the area's wildlife and species inventories are limited, the ecological story is told primarily through its habitat structure. The mosaic of pinyon-juniper, gambel oak, ponderosa pine savanna, aspen, mixed conifer, and spruce-fir within a single watershed creates the kind of vertical habitat sequence that supports the broad guild of Rocky Mountain montane wildlife. Aspen stands provide seasonal forage and cavity habitat; subalpine meadows hold late-season grazing; and the spring-fed channels of Cherry, Bear, and Blue Creek supply cold, persistent water to the lower communities through the dry months. Portions of this area fall within the potential range of several federally listed species; see the Conservation section for details.

A traveler crossing the unit from the canyons below climbs through pinyon and gambel oak, then enters open ponderosa parks where the air cools and the canopy thins. Higher up, aspen leaves rattle along the trail; spruce and fir take over the shaded draws. Crest the rim onto Robertson Pasture or Aspen Flat and the mountain opens to long views of the red-rock plateaus stretching west toward Canyonlands.

The 21,648-acre Blue Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area lies in the Monticello Ranger District of the Manti-La Sal National Forest, in San Juan County, Utah. Blue Mountain, known on some maps as the Abajo range, is one of three laccoliths found in San Juan County [1], and its slopes have drawn human use for more than a thousand years.

Archaeological reports indicate that the Anasazi used the mountain most intensely during the 800s (Pueblo I period) by building seasonal structures in the foothills at approximately the 7,000-foot level [1]. During historic times, the Weeminuche Utes, along with some members of the amorphous San Juan Band Paiutes, laid claim to this region [1]. Navajos also used the area, gathering coniferous, deciduous, and herbal plants for medicinal purposes; Blue Mountain is called "Furry Mountain" by the Navajos, who say it has a male spiritual inner form whose female counterpart is the La Sals [1]. The Spanish who explored the region named the range Abajos — "below" — because it sits below the fords of the Colorado and Green rivers [3].

Mormon settlement of San Juan County began with the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition: 180 Mormon men, women, and children reached the present site of Bluff on April 6, 1880, after six months on what may have been the roughest emigrant trail in the West [2]. Although the Old Spanish Trail passed close to the base of Blue Mountain during the first half of the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1880s that cattle companies like those of Edmund and Harold Carlisle or of I.W. Lacy started to monopolize its resources [1]. Their outfits ranged cattle on the slopes of Blue Mountain, Elk Ridge, and the La Sals in the summer, then moved the herds to the canyons and foothills during the winter [1]. Monticello, founded in 1887, and Blanding, founded in 1905, gave increasing permanence in the area not only to the livestock industry but also to farming, lumbering, and limited mining interests [1].

Federal protection followed quickly. The Manti Forest Reserve was proclaimed on May 29, 1903 [5]. By 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt had created the Monticello Forest Reserve comprised of 214,270 acres on Blue Mountain and Elk Ridge [1]; two years later the government officially changed the name to the La Sal National Forest and combined these holdings with those in the La Sals, in order to better supervise the use of the resources [1]. The Manti and La Sal National Forests were merged in 1949 by formal Public Land Order to form the present Manti-La Sal National Forest [5]. The 21,648-acre Blue Mountain area is today protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Vital Resources Protected

• Aspen and Mixed-Conifer Watershed Integrity — Rocky Mountain Aspen Forest covers 21% of the Blue Mountain unit, with Southern Rockies Mixed Conifer Forest (16%) and Rocky Mountain Dry Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest on the upper slopes. The roadless condition keeps these stands intact across the Upper North Cottonwood Creek headwaters, where Cherry Creek, Bear Creek, Blue Creek, and North Cottonwood Creek originate. Unbroken forest cover slows snowmelt, stabilizes soils, and delivers persistent late-season flow into Blue Creek Reservoir and the irrigated benches that depend on it.

• Elevational Gradient Connectivity — The 21,648-acre unit links Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and Rocky Mountain Gambel Oak Shrubland on the lower fringes through Southern Rockies Ponderosa Pine Woodland and Ponderosa Pine Savanna, broad aspen stands, and Mixed Conifer Forest up to Rocky Mountain Alpine Dwarf-Shrubland on the highest summits of the Abajo dome. Without internal roads, this elevational sequence remains continuous, allowing wildlife and plant communities to track seasonal and longer-term climate shifts across more than 4,000 vertical feet.

• Rare Subalpine Habitats — Isolated stands of Rocky Mountain Limber and Bristlecone Pine Woodland occupy rocky exposures on Mount Linnaeus, Bob Park Peak, and West Mountain, and pockets of Rocky Mountain Wet Subalpine Spruce-Fir Forest fill the wettest draws. These small-footprint communities are highly sensitive to disturbance; the roadless condition keeps both surface impacts and white-pine blister rust vectors limited to the natural rate of spread, protecting the long-lived five-needle pines that anchor the highest stands.

Potential Effects of Road Construction

• Sedimentation and Watershed Disruption — Cut and fill slopes built into the steep flanks of the Abajos would deliver chronic fine sediment into Cherry Creek, Bear Creek, Blue Creek, and the North Cottonwood Creek headwaters. Increased sediment load would degrade aquatic substrate, fill pool habitat, and reduce the cold-water yield reaching Blue Creek Reservoir. Because the Abajo soils are easily eroded and the road prism continues to shed sediment with every storm, water-quality declines persist long after construction itself ends.

• Habitat Fragmentation in Aspen and Mixed-Conifer Stands — A road network through the unit would convert closed-canopy aspen and mixed-conifer interiors into edge habitat, with the documented consequence of altered understory composition and reduced regeneration. Edge effects in ponderosa pine and gambel oak also disrupt the natural fire mosaic that these systems depend on, and roads themselves act as ignition lines and fire barriers in ways that fragment the broader fire regime across the Manti-La Sal.

• Invasive Species Corridors — Construction equipment, road fill, and the disturbed soil of the corridor act as a continuous pathway for cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and other non-native annuals into sagebrush steppe, gambel oak, and pinyon-juniper. Once established, cheatgrass carries fire at frequencies the native shrublands cannot tolerate, triggering a feedback that converts the system to annual grassland and erodes the biological soil crusts that the roadless condition currently protects. The same disturbed-soil corridor would carry white-pine blister rust spores further into the area's isolated limber and bristlecone pine stands.

The Blue Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area covers 21,648 acres of the Abajo Mountains on the Monticello Ranger District of the Manti-La Sal National Forest in southeastern Utah. Recreation is built around a substantial trail network — roughly 43 miles across ten documented routes — accessed from a ring of trailheads on the surrounding forest roads. The area is undeveloped in its interior, with a single campground (Nizhoni) on the perimeter and dispersed camping inside the unit.

Trail Network and Trailheads Ten Forest Service trails are documented on Blue Mountain. The Blue Creek–Allen Canyon Trail (#5013) runs 6.6 miles of native tread and is open to horse use; the Tuerto Trail (#5011) covers 5.9 miles; and the Blue Creek–Tuerto Trail (#5014) links the two over 2.8 miles. The Robertson Pasture Trail (#5020), the Red Ledges Trail (#5019), the Aspen Flat Trail (#5018), and the Skyline Trail (#5015) range from 4.6 to 5.0 miles each and all carry equestrian use; the Shay Ridge Trail (#5162) adds 5.2 miles along the namesake ridge. Shorter routes include the Indian Creek East Slope Trail (#5463), 2.7 miles, and the Johnson Creek Rim Spur Loop (#5917), 0.4 miles, the only documented route specifically signed for hiker/horse mixed use. Access points include the Robertson Pasture, Skyline, Skyline West, Red Ledges, Aspen Flat/Shay Ridge, Aspen Flat South End, and Dry Wash Indian Ruins trailheads.

Backcountry Camping The Nizhoni Campground on the southern edge of the Abajos provides developed camping near the unit. Inside the area itself, dispersed camping is permitted under Manti-La Sal National Forest rules. Suitable camp benches sit in aspen openings at Aspen Flat, on the grassy ground of Robertson Pasture, and on the broad ridges above Allen Canyon and Tuerto Canyon. With the trail network laid out as multiple linked loops, multi-day backpack and pack-stock trips are feasible across the unit.

Hunting Blue Mountain lies within Utah Division of Wildlife Resources hunt-unit boundaries that include the Abajos and the surrounding canyon country. The mosaic of pinyon-juniper, gambel oak, ponderosa pine, aspen, and mixed conifer supports the standard Manti-La Sal big-game guild. Mule deer and elk hunting are the primary draws, with archery, muzzleloader, and rifle seasons set by Utah DWR. Hunting access here is foot and horse only inside the unit: there are no motorized routes, and outfitters frequently pack hunters in via the long Blue Creek–Allen Canyon and Robertson Pasture trails. Consult current Utah hunt-unit rules before going.

Wildlife Watching and Birding The high mosaic of aspen, ponderosa, and mixed conifer concentrates bird life through the summer breeding season; seven eBird hotspots cluster around the unit, with Recapture Reservoir (150 species) and Loyds Lake (129) the most productive nearby waters. Inside the unit, the trails through Aspen Flat and Robertson Pasture pass through high-quality cavity-nester and forest-edge habitat, while Allen Canyon and Tuerto Canyon offer riparian observation along the headwater streams. Devil's Canyon Campground (121 species) and Dalton Springs (81 species) are productive observation points on the perimeter.

Why Roadless Matters Here Every recreation use described above depends on the absence of internal roads. The ten documented trails carry foot, stock, and a limited window of bike use only; their backcountry character collapses as soon as a road parallels them. Pack-stock hunting trips and multi-day loops through Robertson Pasture, Aspen Flat, and Allen Canyon require long uninterrupted approaches that only a roadless unit provides. Cold-water yields in Blue Creek and Bear Creek depend on undisturbed headwaters. Bird diversity at the surrounding eBird hotspots depends on the unfragmented interior habitat. Construction of even a single system road through Blue Mountain would shorten approaches, raise visitor numbers, and convert this 21,648-acre block from a foot-and-horse backcountry unit to one essentially indistinguishable from the rest of the developed Abajos.