Lake Alice - Commissary Ridge

The Lake Alice–Commissary Ridge area spans 166,707 acres across the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming's subalpine zone, where ridgelines exceed 10,000 feet and define the headwaters of the Hams Fork drainage. Graham Peak (10,337 ft), Mount Isabel (10,154 ft), and Fontennelle Mountain (10,052 ft) form the area's backbone, with Commissary Ridge, Lake Mountain, Bull Mountain, and Absaroka Ridge creating a complex topography of slopes and saddles. The East Fork Hams Fork originates here, flowing north through Fontenelle Creek, Poker Creek, Coantag Creek, Hobble Creek, and Salt Creek—a network of cold-water tributaries that drain the high country and sustain aquatic communities dependent on consistent snowmelt and groundwater discharge.

Forest composition shifts with elevation and aspect across the landscape. Lower slopes and north-facing drainages support dense Subalpine Fir–Engelmann Spruce Forest, where subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) and Engelmann spruce form a closed canopy over shade-tolerant understory species. Lodgepole Pine Forest occupies drier, south-facing slopes and higher elevations, with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) creating even-aged stands that respond to fire disturbance. The threatened whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) persists on exposed ridgelines and upper slopes, though its distribution has contracted due to white pine blister rust and mountain pine beetle. Aspen Woodland patches occur on disturbed sites and gentle slopes, where quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) creates deciduous breaks in the conifer matrix. Above the forest line, Alpine Tundra and Fell-field communities occupy the highest ridges, while lower-elevation south-facing slopes support Mountain Big Sagebrush Steppe and Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany Shrubland, where big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and curl-leaf mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) dominate. Montane Riparian Willow Shrubland borders the creek corridors, providing moisture-dependent habitat distinct from the surrounding uplands.

The area supports large carnivores and their prey in a functioning predator-prey system. The federally threatened grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) ranges across all elevation zones, feeding on ungulates, roots, and seasonal plant resources. The federally threatened Canada lynx inhabits the dense spruce-fir forests, where it hunts snowshoe hares in winter. The federally threatened North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) occupies high-elevation terrain, moving across ridgelines and through subalpine forests. Wapiti (Cervus canadensis) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) provide prey for these predators and browse the understory and shrub communities. Moose (Alces alces) inhabit riparian willow shrublands along the creek drainages. In the cold headwater streams, the federally endangered Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius), razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus), and bonytail (Gila elegans) occupy the main channels, while the federally threatened humpback chub (Gila cypha) and Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah) inhabit tributary reaches. The northern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda copei), listed as near threatened (IUCN), occupies smaller tributary streams. Dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) forage in the forest understory and subalpine meadows, while sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) use riparian and wet meadow habitats. American beaver (Castor canadensis) engineer wetland complexes in the willow shrublands, creating habitat for other species and slowing water movement through the landscape.

Walking through this landscape, a visitor experiences distinct ecological transitions. Following Fontenelle Creek upstream from lower elevations, the riparian corridor widens with willow shrubland and aspen groves, the sound of flowing water constant. As elevation increases, the forest closes in—first lodgepole pine giving way to the darker, denser spruce-fir community where light barely reaches the forest floor. The understory thins to moss and scattered forbs. Climbing toward Commissary Ridge or Graham Peak, the forest opens abruptly at treeline, where whitebark pine stands isolated against wind-sculpted slopes. The ridgeline itself is open fell-field, with low-growing alpine plants and expansive views across the Hams Fork drainage. The transition from closed forest to open ridge happens within a few hundred vertical feet, a shift marked by changes in temperature, wind exposure, and the species composition of both plants and animals. In the high country, the presence of grizzly bear sign—overturned rocks, excavated roots—and the tracks of lynx and wolverine in snow remind visitors that this landscape supports predators at the top of the food chain.

For thousands of years, the Eastern Shoshone people, also known as the Wind River Shoshone, inhabited this region as part of their traditional homeland. Archaeological evidence in the surrounding Wyoming and Bridger Ranges documents human occupation dating back over 12,000 years. A specialized group known as the Tukudeka, or Mountain Shoshone, lived year-round in the high-altitude regions of northwest Wyoming, including areas within the present-day Bridger-Teton National Forest, hunting bighorn sheep and other mountain game. The Shoshone and Bannock peoples also seasonally hunted elk, moose, and bison throughout the landscape and gathered plants including camas roots, berries, and medicinal herbs. The region held deep spiritual significance: high peaks were used for vision quests and pilgrimages. The Fort Bridger Treaty of 1863 originally defined a 44-million-acre homeland for the Eastern Shoshone that encompassed this area. Other tribes including the Crow, Blackfeet, Flathead, Gros Ventre, Arapaho, and Cheyenne seasonally used or traversed the region for hunting, trading, and spiritual purposes.

In the early nineteenth century, fur trappers and mountain men operated throughout the region. Beginning in 1867 and continuing through 1952, the practice of tie hacking—cutting timber to produce railroad ties for the transcontinental railroad—shaped land use across the mountains west of LaBarge and Big Piney. Timber was skidded to rivers including the Hams Fork and Green River and floated downstream. The Lander Cut-Off, a segment of the historic Oregon Trail and the first federally funded road project west of the Mississippi, was surveyed in 1857 and passed through or near the northern portions of the region. Livestock grazing, including sheep and cattle, established a continuous presence in the area. Regional development was driven by the Oregon Short Line Railroad and nearby industrial operations: Kemmerer's first underground coal mine opened in 1881, establishing the town as a company founded by Patrick J. Quealy and Mahlon S. Kemmerer. While major mining operations remained in the adjacent Hams Fork valley and coal centers of Kemmerer and Diamondville, industrial activity in the surrounding forest focused on timber extraction and water resources to support regional settlement and commerce.

On March 30, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison established the Yellowstone Park Timber Land Reserve, the first forest reserve of its kind, with lands that later became part of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt added 5 million acres to the Forest Reserve system in the region, creating the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, which was divided into four administrative divisions including the Teton division. On July 1, 1908, President Roosevelt issued Proclamation 819, reorganizing the Yellowstone National Forest and officially establishing the Teton National Forest. The Bridger National Forest was originally established in 1911 from part of the Bonneville National Forest and was transferred to and absorbed by the Wyoming National Forest on May 14, 1923. On March 10, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8709, renaming the Wyoming National Forest to the Bridger National Forest in honor of mountain man Jim Bridger. The modern Bridger-Teton National Forest was created in 1973 through the administrative combination of the Bridger and Teton National Forests.

Subsequent federal legislation significantly modified management of the region. In 1943, President Roosevelt combined 221,000 acres of national forest land with other lands to create the Jackson Hole National Monument, which later became part of Grand Teton National Park. The 1984 Wyoming Wilderness Act designated the Gros Ventre Wilderness and expanded the Bridger Wilderness to 428,169 acres, removing large sections from general forest management.

The Lake Alice–Commissary Ridge area comprises 166,707 acres and is protected under the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which designated it as an Inventoried Roadless Area managed within the Kemmerer Ranger District of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Conservation Summary

Vital Resources Protected

Genetically Pure Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Spawning and Rearing Habitat

The Lake Alice population represents one of the few remaining genetically uncontaminated populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout in the Bear River Basin—a subspecies whose range-wide populations are now classified as "high or very high risk" under climate change projections. This roadless area's high-elevation headwater streams and cold-water lakes provide the isolation and thermal stability that have allowed this population to remain free from hybridization with non-native rainbow trout, a threat that has eliminated genetic integrity in most other populations across the region. The intact riparian willow shrubland and subalpine forest canopy maintain the cool stream temperatures and stable baseflow that spawning cutthroat require; road construction would disrupt both.

Canada Lynx Critical Habitat and Subalpine Forest Connectivity

This area contains designated critical habitat for the federally threatened Canada lynx, whose survival depends on continuous subalpine and boreal forest across high elevations where snowshoe hare populations—their primary prey—persist. The roadless condition preserves the unfragmented lodgepole pine and subalpine fir–Engelmann spruce forest that allows lynx to move across the landscape without crossing open areas where they are vulnerable to predation and vehicle strike. Roads fragment this forest into isolated patches, creating edge effects that favor competing predators and reduce hare habitat quality, ultimately severing the connectivity that allows lynx populations to persist across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Grizzly Bear and Wolverine Elevational Refuge and Movement Corridor

The area's steep terrain, ranging from 9,000 to 10,337 feet, provides high-elevation refugia for federally threatened grizzly bears and wolverines during warm months and serves as a critical movement corridor between the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide. These species require vast, undisturbed territories with minimal human presence; the roadless condition allows them to access alpine tundra, subalpine meadows, and whitebark pine seed resources without encountering roads, which increase human-caused mortality and fragment populations into isolated groups unable to interbreed.

Whitebark Pine and Alpine Tundra Climate Refugia

The high-elevation alpine tundra and fell-field ecosystems, along with threatened whitebark pine forests at elevations above 9,000 feet, represent climate refugia—areas where cooler temperatures and moisture patterns may allow species to persist as lower elevations become unsuitable. These ecosystems are inherently fragile and slow-growing; once disturbed by road construction and the erosion, compaction, and invasive species that follow, recovery is measured in decades to centuries, if it occurs at all. The elevational gradient from montane riparian willow to alpine tundra remains intact only because the roadless condition prevents the fragmentation that would interrupt species' ability to shift upslope as climate warms.

Threats from Road Construction

Sedimentation and Stream Temperature Increase from Canopy Removal and Cut Slopes

Road construction in this mountainous terrain requires extensive cut slopes and removal of riparian forest canopy to accommodate roadbeds and sight lines. Exposed soil on steep slopes erodes rapidly during snowmelt and summer storms, delivering fine sediment into headwater streams where it smothers the clean gravel spawning substrate that Bonneville cutthroat trout require for egg incubation. Simultaneously, removal of the subalpine fir and lodgepole pine canopy that currently shades streams eliminates the thermal buffer that keeps water temperatures within the narrow range (below 15°C) that cutthroat trout can tolerate; even a 2–3°C increase in stream temperature reduces survival of eggs and young fish, particularly during drought years when baseflow is already diminished.

Culvert Barriers and Fragmentation of Aquatic Connectivity

Roads crossing the Hams Fork headwaters, Fontenelle Creek, Poker Creek, and other drainage systems require culverts or bridges. Improperly designed culverts create velocity barriers and perched outlets that block upstream movement of native fish, fragmenting populations into isolated reaches where genetic diversity declines and local extinction risk increases. The Bonneville cutthroat trout population in Lake Alice depends on access to multiple tributary streams for spawning and juvenile rearing; culvert barriers would confine the population to fewer streams, reducing its resilience to drought, disease, or localized disturbance and accelerating its decline as climate change further stresses high-elevation aquatic systems.

Habitat Fragmentation and Edge Effects in Lynx Critical Habitat

Road construction through subalpine forest creates linear clearings that fragment the continuous canopy cover that Canada lynx require. The resulting edge habitat favors competing predators (coyotes, mountain lions) and reduces snowshoe hare density by exposing hares to predation and altering the dense understory structure they depend on for cover. Roads also enable human access and vehicle traffic, increasing direct mortality of lynx and reducing their use of the area through avoidance behavior. The loss of connectivity between the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide populations would isolate lynx in smaller subpopulations with reduced genetic diversity and increased vulnerability to local extinction.

Invasive Species Establishment and Altered Fire Regimes in Sagebrush and Alpine Ecosystems

Road construction creates disturbed corridors—compacted, bare soil with reduced competition—that serve as invasion routes for noxious weeds, particularly cheatgrass in the mountain big sagebrush and steppe ecosystems at lower elevations within the roadless area. Cheatgrass increases fine fuel loads and alters fire frequency and intensity, converting sagebrush habitat to grassland unsuitable for native species including mule deer and sage grouse. At high elevations, road disturbance introduces invasive species into alpine tundra and whitebark pine forests where native plant communities are slow-growing and have minimal competitive ability to resist colonization. Once established, these invasive species persist indefinitely, fundamentally altering the structure and function of ecosystems that have remained stable for centuries.

Recreation Summary

The Lake Alice – Commissary Ridge roadless area spans 166,707 acres of subalpine and alpine terrain in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, with elevations ranging from 7,745 feet at Lake Alice to 10,337 feet at Graham Peak. The area's roadless condition supports a network of over 40 maintained trails and dispersed backcountry recreation that depends entirely on the absence of motorized access.

Hiking, Horseback Riding, and Mountain Biking

The trail system offers routes for all experience levels. The Lake Alice Trail (1025) is a 3.2-mile hike from Hobble Creek Trailhead to the lake itself, a blue-green natural lake formed by an ancient landslide. For longer trips, the Commissary Ridge Trail (1171) is a 32.9-mile multi-use route with 4,923 feet of elevation gain, traversing the area's highest ridges. Intermediate hikers can reach Graham Peak (1027) in 3.7 miles. The Lander Cutoff National Historic Trail (1175) follows 21.5 miles of the Oregon Trail corridor through the northern section, where historic wagon ruts remain visible.

Horseback riders have access to stock corrals at Hobble Creek Campground and can use the same trail network. Mountain bikers can ride the Lake Alice Trail and sections of the Commissary Ridge system. Winter access via snowmobile is available on designated snow trails including the Smiths Fork Snowmobile Trail (1SM10072, 17.4 miles) and the Big Park Loop (1SM10066, 16.2 miles).

Access points include Hobble Creek Trailhead (requiring a ford of Hobble Creek), Hams Fork Trailhead, Absaroka Ridge Trailhead, and Clear Creek Trailhead. Hobble Creek Campground, Hams Fork Campground, Lake Alice Campground, and Allred Flat Campground provide vehicle-accessible bases. Lake Alice features three designated backcountry campsites with tables, fire grates, water systems, and pit toilets. Dispersed camping is permitted at least 100 feet from the high-water mark, with a 14-day stay limit forest-wide.

Fishing

Lake Alice holds the only known pure-strain naturally reproducing population of Bonneville cutthroat trout in the world, isolated by the ancient landslide that formed the lake. The fishery is open July 1 through March 31, with a six-trout daily limit and a two-cutthroat limit for fish over 12 inches. Only artificial flies and lures are permitted. The lake reaches depths of 200 feet and is the largest natural lake in the western Bridger-Teton.

Hobble Creek supports Bonneville cutthroat trout and is the primary drainage for the area. The Hams Fork River, accessible from Hams Fork Campground, contains rainbow, brown, and brook trout, mountain whitefish, and Colorado River cutthroat trout. Poker Creek (1011, 6.7 miles), the stream originally dammed to form Lake Alice, holds brook, brown, and cutthroat trout. Coantag Creek and other high-country streams support wild cutthroat and brook trout populations. Artificial flies and lures only are required upstream from the Hobble Creek confluence in the Smiths Fork drainage.

Hunting

The roadless area supports elk (wapiti), mule deer, moose, black bear, and grizzly bear hunting under Wyoming Game and Fish Department regulations. Dusky grouse and other upland birds are present in forest and forest-edge habitats. The Wyoming Range, which includes Commissary Ridge, is recognized for high-quality mule deer trophy potential. Fall seasons for big game are set annually by WGFD; archery seasons typically precede rifle seasons. Hunters must follow food storage orders for bear-resistant storage of all attractants. The roadless terrain requires pack-in hunting via foot or horseback travel, as motorized vehicles are restricted in backcountry zones.

Paddling

Lake Alice is the primary paddling destination, accessible via a 1.5-mile hike or horseback from Hobble Creek Campground. Kayaking, canoeing, and paddleboarding are permitted; internal combustion engines are prohibited. A boat dock is located at the far end of the lake, with a beach area near the trailhead for launching. The Hams Fork River near Hams Fork Campground is documented for canoeing and kayaking. Hobble Creek also supports paddling access from Hobble Creek Campground. Road access to the Hobble Creek area is typically not passable until late June or July due to snow and high water.

Photography

Commissary Ridge offers panoramic views of the Grand, Middle, and South Teton peaks, with vistas that open suddenly from old-growth pine and aspen stands. Lake Alice's shoreline and reflections provide scenic subjects, as do Mount Isabel (10,154 feet) and Graham Peak (10,337 feet). Subalpine meadows and alpine tundra support seasonal wildflower displays, including Wasatch beardtongue, cutleaf balsamroot, and white bog orchid. Quaking aspen stands provide fall color photography opportunities. Wildlife subjects include moose, elk, mule deer, grizzly bears, sandhill cranes, and dusky grouse. The roadless area's distance from major roads and development supports dark-sky conditions for stargazing, particularly from higher elevations like Commissary Ridge.

The roadless condition is essential to these recreation opportunities. The absence of roads preserves the backcountry character that defines hiking, horseback, and ski access. Unfragmented habitat supports the wildlife populations that hunters and wildlife photographers depend on. Undisturbed watersheds maintain the cold, clean water that sustains the Bonneville cutthroat trout population and other fisheries. Quiet trails free from motorized use are the foundation of the hiking, horseback, and paddling experience. Road construction would fragment the landscape, introduce noise and dust, degrade water quality, and eliminate the backcountry access that makes this area distinct from roaded national forest lands.