Visitors to Colorado’s Fourteeners enjoy the peaks’ unique beauty and history. Yet the very plants, animals, rocks, and cultural artifacts that make Colorado’s Fourteeners special are often disrupted or altered by human actions. Wildflowers are picked. Potshards and arrowheads are taken. Antlers become garden decorations. Rocks are removed as tokens of remembrance. In these ways, the very people who appreciate it threaten the natural and cultural heritage treasured by outdoor enthusiasts. As a visitor to Colorado’s high country, you have a responsibility to preserve these important resources by leaving them where they are found so that others may discover, experience, and enjoy them.

  • Do Not Take Flowers, Berries, or Rocks
  • Leave Cultural Artifacts Where You Find Them
  • It Is Inappropriate to Build Cairns or Otherwise Mark Trails or Paths

Do Not Take Flowers, Berries Or Rocks

Taking natural items such as plants, berries, or rocks deprives other visitors of the experience of discovery and jeopardizes the health of present and future plant populations. Berries and flowers disperse seeds, thus ensuring the propagation of plants. Removing these seed carriers reduces a plants chance of survival and, in the case of rare and endangered flora endemic to Fourteeners, could even jeopardize the health of an entire species. Other, seemingly lifeless, natural items like antlers, skeletons, and fallen branches also must be left where they are found. These items provide food and shelter for plants and animals.

Leave Cultural Artifacts Where You Find Them

Under the National Historical Protection Act of 1966 and the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, all artifacts on public lands are protected. Based on these laws, removing, defacing, or otherwise disturbing any human altered item over fifty years old is illegal. Perhaps more important than the legal ramifications, however, is that taking items from cultural sites robs the area of its history. Taking metal tools, cans, or signs from mining camps or pot shards, arrowheads, or other cultural artifacts essentially removes important clues to the past history of Native Americans and early pioneers who inhabited Colorado’s mountains. The sites most valuable to archeologists are those that have been preserved intact since being abandoned. Rather than robbing these sites of their history, take photographs and enjoy these areas from a distance.

Consider the cumulative effect of hundreds-of-thousands of visitors to Colorado’s Fourteeners. If everyone took “just one” item, the overall effect would be disastrous. Many plant and animal populations would decline or disappear. Cultural and historic sites would become barren of their history. To enjoy these spectacular mountains with their natural and cultural resources intact, we must all do our part by leaving what we find.

It is Inappropriate to Build Cairns or Otherwise Mark Trails or Paths

The unauthorized placement of cairns, pyramid shaped piles of rock used to mark alpine hiking routes, is often illegal and can endanger other hikers. Thirty-five of Colorado’s Fourteeners lie within federally designated wilderness. The development of any permanent structure, including cairns, within these areas is prohibited. Land managers have special administrative exceptions to build cairns which will direct climbers away from sensitive areas and onto minimum impact Fourteener climbing routes; however, the majority of cairns on Fourteener routes have been illegally and incorrectly constructed. Despite best intentions, individuals who build unauthorized cairns often, unknowingly direct other climbers away from appropriate hiking routes and onto unsafe or particularly fragile ground. Over time, other hikers will build additional cairns to mark what they think is a better route. The end result is dozens of unneeded and haphazardly placed cairns sending hikers off in a myriad of different directions. Flagging and other means of marking trails is also inappropriate. When climbing Fourteeners that do not have established trails or well-delineated routes, correct use of a map and compass will ensure good route finding and reduce the need for cairns and trail markings.