West of Buena Vista is Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area featuring the 14,000 foot peaks of Mount Yale, Harvard and Columbia. A population estimated at 80 mountain goats can be found here.

A 9” billy was harvested here in 2011, with many other mountain goats ranging between 7” and 8” taken each year. Hunters can expect to use horses to gain altitude or prepare for a long uphill backpack trip.

Three peaks reaching up to 14,000 feet can be found here, Harvard, Columbia and Yale. Surrounding peaks reach above 13,000 feet, with Tin Up and Cottonwood Passes at 12,000 feet. Cottonwood and Texas Creeks drain the mountains east and west of the Continental Divide. Horn Fork Basin lays just west of Mount Columbia, Missouri Basin is northwest of Mount Harvard and Magdalene Gulch is above Texas Creek. These are rugged mountains, deep gulches, canyons and long rocky ridges.

Alpine basins offer a wide variety of wildflowers, grasses, moss, lichens and barren ground willows. Timberline and below dwarfed Krummholz trees, fir, spruce, pine and willow stands are separated by open grassy parks. Large stands of aspen, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, spruce and grassy meadows can be seen on north slopes and near drainages. Oak brush, grasses, mountain mahogany, cottonwood and willows can be found at lower elevations.

Collegiate Peaks Campground consists of 56 campsites. Buena Vista offers motels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, cafes, microbreweries, medical care and diesel and gas. Mountain River Inn, Buffalo Peaks and a Bed on the Arkansas are all bed and breakfasts found near the unit.

Gunnison National Forest and San Isabel National Forest offer thousands of acres of public lands with very few forest service or county roads. Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Area has over 167,000 acres and is limited to foot or horseback travel. Trailheads can be reached off of County Road 306 and U.S. Highway 24. Cottonwood Pass has parking near Turner Peak.