Willamette and Deschutes National Forests

Lying just east of Waldo Lake, the Maiden Peak roadless area covers over 48,000 acres of mid to high elevation land along the crest of the Cascade Mountains. On the west side of the crest, it features one of the largest unbroken mountain hemlock forests in the Pacific Northwest. On the east side, the mountain hemlock shares the forest with pondersoa, lodgepole and white pine, subalpine and grand fir, and engleman spruce.

Currently, the US Forest Service reserves most of the area for non-motorized recreation. As such, it contains many features deserving formal Wilderness designation:

• Three major peaks: Maiden Peak, the Twins and Charlton Butte
• Seven major lakes, including Rosary Lakes, Chalton Lake and Bobby Lake and many small backcountry lakes.
• Over 21miles of the Pacific Crest Trail
• Habitat for rare mammals such as marten, fisher and even wolverine
• It serves as the bulk of the watershed for Waldo Lake, one of the three purest large lakes in the world
• It is the entire watershed for Gold Lake
• It contains the Gold Lake Research Natural Area
• It is the headwaters for Salt Creek

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