Alongside photographers, Sinjin Eberle once found himself in a rather obscure part of Colorado that seemed to him in every way wild and scenic.

The group started from the upper reaches of Deep Creek Canyon, from the same-named lake near 10,400 feet. From there, the stream harshly dropped more than 4,000 feet between soaring limestone walls, mossy forests and thick willows to meet the Colorado River, where Eberle

and company found sweet relief.

“It’s only like a 12-mile stretch from Deep Lake down to the Colorado River,” Eberle recalled. “But it is some of the gnarliest backcountry I’ve ever been in. It just destroyed us over two days.”

That, he figured, was the effect of a venture truly wild and scenic.

Representing advocacy group American Rivers, Eberle and the photographers were there to show that Deep Creek was indeed worthy of that description.

Northern Colorado’s Cache la Poudre River is the state’s sole waterway protected under the nation’s Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. A long effort continues to make Deep Creek the second — to join a prestigious list of 226 other streams across America.

Deep Creek’s federal land managers — the U.S. Forest Service toward the top, the Bureau of Land Management on the lower end — determined the free-flowing canyon stretch was suitable for distinction in 2014. That followed the initial eligibility finding back in the 1990s. Those years saw advocates work on several pieces of legislation that would give some kind of high-level protection for the corridor hiding in the mountains around Dotsero.

“It is amazingly scenic,” said the Bureau of Land Management’s Roy Smith, speaking to one “outstandingly remarkable” value determined in those official reviews. “You get to the edge of the canyon, and you’re like, Whoa. And you would never know it driving by on Interstate 70 only 10 miles away.”

Wilderness and river advocates near and far have long been in the know. They continue to work toward Wild and Scenic designation, said Smith, the BLM’S Colorado point person on the program who has served as a liaison since the ‘90s.

The state has a long list of streams found to be Wild and Scenic eligible, Smith noted. For a wide variety of reasons ranging from environmental, social and political, fewer are found to be suitable, he said, adding that even fewer inspire the local willpower, expertise and patience needed for designation. Smith counted efforts around Colorado’s Dolores and Crystal rivers as a couple of recent exceptions. And then there’s Deep Creek. “I would say there’s been more activity around designation on Deep Creek than probably any other stream I’ve seen in the last 20 years,” Smith said.

That’s largely due to the “outstandingly remarkable” values outlined in the 2014 suitability report.

Along with scenic, land managers found ecologic and geologic rarities.

“Deep Creek Canyon has one of the most pristine, intact canyon landscapes in Colorado,” read the report, which recognized a globally unusual combination of plants and habitats.

Statewide, the presence of the spotted bat and Townsend’s bigeared bat was uncommon. They have made home in the ancient, multicolored rocks that the report also marked as unique.

The formations “contain one of the highest concentrations of caves” in Colorado, researchers determined, “some of which are among the deepest and longest” and “most remarkable” in the state.

The landscape has called to inthe-know cavers and climbers, including Eagle-based James Dilzell.

He recognized his area as home to several “outstandingly remarkable” canyons, Glenwood Canyon being one. But Deep Creek is different, he said.

“It really is one of these places where you’re just left in awe,” he said. “It’s beautiful, it’s so rugged. ... It’s just a really powerful place to be.”

Among stakeholders including nonprofits, local government agencies and private landowners, Dilzell has represented Eagle River Watershed Council. Another key player has been Glenwood-based Colorado River District, which stands to safeguard the region’s water users.

The district has no formal stance on Deep Creek’s Wild and Scenic proposal, said the organization’s general counsel, Peter Fleming.

“There are some landowners that are concerned about any federal designation and any attendant restrictions that can come with that,” he said.

Traditionally, a Wild and Scenic designation comes with a federal water right that seeks to ensure certain flows that maintain the “outstandingly remarkable” landscape. That’s a controversial proposition — especially in the West, where flows are increasingly far from guaranteed.

“It’s only what Mother Nature provides,” Fleming said. “And so does that (water right) prevent others that are junior in line from coming in and taking water out of the stream?”

When it comes to Deep Creek, rights holders are few. That’s at least somewhat beneficial to the the Wild and Scenic possibility, Fleming said.

“It’s not simple, but maybe it’s more feasible,” he said. “It’s definitely more feasible than if it were a more tightly contested stream.”

Also feasible in the minds of people around the negotiating table: a protective water right that would come from the state instead of the feds.

Some see that as an arrangement that would be more flexible, more open to allowances for existing users. It could be a a deal similar to the one struck a decade ago for southwest Colorado’s Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area, where the Colorado Water Conservation Board holds the instream water right.

The situation helps answer the question Smith gets a lot in his position: How does wild and scenic Colorado have just one Wild and Scenic river? How can a state like New Jersey have four more stretches?

“It’s recognizing Colorado is a headwaters state, and we have interstate compacts that obligate us to send water downstream,” Smith said. “There’s a concern that if you have a Wild and Scenic designation, then all of a sudden you have the federal government as a major player in how that water is managed. ... There’s just an overall concern about having the federal government as a player in that arena.”

Another common question emerges in these talks: What would a Wild and Scenic designation really mean?

More publicity and thus more economic activity? More publicity and more damaging impacts to the land? Deep Creek’s suitability report indicated increased visitation “would be very limited,” considering “the creek corridor is extremely rugged and inaccessible to all but the most adventurous and highly prepared visitors.”

Considering that ruggedness and inaccessibility making a dam or any other development highly unlikely, how necessary is a Wild and Scenic designation?

It would be symbolic and meaningful, Dilzell said.

“It signifies the high value we place on rivers, especially a place that is literally wild and scenic,” he said. “It would be an honor to have that in our community.”