The South San Juan Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest , east of Pagosa Springs , in southern Colorado . The area, which spans 158,790 acres, was designated a Wilderness Area and put into the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1980 by the United States Congress .
5-536: The Conejos , San Juan , and Blanco rivers all begin in the area. The last known grizzly bear in Colorado was killed in the wilderness in 1979. Some believe that it is still home to a few grizzlies, but there is no sufficient evidence yet to prove this. The wilderness area contains: 32 lakes, many peaks above 13,000 feet (4,000 m), the highest of which is Summit Peak at 13,307 feet, and 180 miles (290 km) of hiking trails, that includes 42 miles (68 km) of
10-513: A popular destination for whitewater rafting . Off-limits to white settlement during the New Spain years, the river was the site of early land grants to settlers from the government of Mexico in the 1830s. The first settlement of 50 families along the river, in the Guadalupe Grant in 1833, was destroyed in an attack by Native Americans . José Jacques established the first white settlement on
15-680: The Continental Divide Trail . This article related to a protected area in Colorado is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Conejos River The Conejos River is a tributary of the Rio Grande , approximately 92.5 miles (148.9 km) long, in south-central Colorado in the United States. It drains a scenic area of the eastern San Juan Mountains west of the San Luis Valley . It rises from snowmelt along
20-596: The continental divide west of Conejos Peak in western Conejos County , approximately 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Pagosa Springs . It flows briefly northeast, through Platoro Reservoir , then southeast through the Rio Grande National Forest , then east along the New Mexico border through a scenic canyon. It enters the southwestern corner of the San Luis Valley from the west near Conejos and joins
25-517: The Rio Grande from the west approximately 15 mi (24 km) southeast of Alamosa . It is impounded at Platoro Reservoir for flood control and to manage irrigation in the San Luis Valley, as part of the San Luis Valley Project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation . The river is wide and shallow along much of its course. It descends steeply in several areas, including Pinnacle Canyon,
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