---
template: byway.jade
id: "2107"
name: Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway
distance: "82"
duration: 2.5 hours
description: "When you drive on the Flat Tops, you'll see not only great scenery, but the birthplace of a concept. Development of any kind was barred around Trappers Lake two decades after the region was designated in 1891 as the second National Forest Reserve unit in the foreshadowing of the 1964 Wilderness Act."
contact: "**Yampa Ranger District**  \r\n 970-638-4516  \r\n"
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websites: 
  - url: "http://www.flattopsbyway.com/"
    name: Explore the Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway
  - url: "http://www.coloradodot.info/travel/scenic-byways/northwest/flat-tops-trail"
    name: "Flat Tops Trail--CDOT"
  - url: "http://www.fs.usda.gov/mbr/"
    name: "Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests"
  - url: "http://www.fs.usda.gov/whiteriver/"
    name: White River National Forest
designations: 
  - National Forest Scenic Byway
  - "Colorado Scenic & Historic Byway"
states: 
  - CO
ll: 
  - -107.88329299999998
  - 40.03894000000008
bounds: 
  - - -107.88329299999998
    - 39.94073900000012
  - - -106.90862299999998
    - 40.22032900000005

---

This byway cuts through the heart of the original White River Plateau Timberland Reserve, set aside in the late 19th century as the second unit of what eventually became the National Forest system. Two decades later, in a foreshadowing of the 1964 Wilderness Act, development of any kind was banned around Trapper's
Lake (the "Cradle of Wilderness"). The area's long-standing history of preservation and multiple-use land management makes for pristine scenery and superlative wildlife viewing. Yet this remains very
much a "working" byway, dotted with active mines, ranches, and timber-producing woodlands. Meeker and Yampa, the route's two endpoints, embody the rugged individualism that lies at the heart of western lore.
