The Most beautiful place in Vail
One
of my honeymooner friends once asked me, "Bob, what's the most beautiful place
in Vail?" I told him that anywhere you go in Vail, it's beautiful. Just
about any of Vail's lodging offers a bird's
eye view of why people the world over travel to, play in, and end up buying
a piece of paradise in Vail, Colorado. You will feel like you are at the top
of the world looking down from the highest
point in Vail. For surrounding you is 2.3 million acres of White River
National Forest. It is the nation's leading recreation hot spot, and the birthplace
of Wilderness.
Though Vail has become synonymous with skiing, the Vail ski resort abounds with summer and winter activities alike. There is no "most beautiful place" in Vail, for beauty is all around you. And for that reason, visitors are expected to respect the land and its surroundings in its natural state.
In an effort to preserve the land's primal beauty, the White River National Forest has taken pains to preserve the area for your enjoyment. Rules are in place to protect its matchless splendor for generations to come.
Wilderness
Wilderness has been defined as "nature on it's own terms". Natural processes are valued, and human activity is limited to simple recreation; wild places can be experienced without destroying the beauty that surrounds it.
Signed on September 3, 1964, The Wilderness Act says:
"In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding
settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas
within the United States...leaving no lands designated for preservation and
protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy
of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations
the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."
Defined, the acts says that: "Wilderness is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."
The White River National Forest manages a total of eight wilderness areas in Colorado. As their job is to protect and preserve these wild lands, managers ask that visitors understand, and adhere to these rules while traveling and camping in wilderness areas so that even the most beautiful place in Vail can be enjoyed by all.
For more information about Wilderness, log on to:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/recreation/wilderness/index.shtml
