Visit Wilderness

Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Minnesota

Why Visit Wilderness?

While wilderness can be appreciated from afar—through online content, television, or books—nothing compares to experiencing it firsthand. Activities like camping, hiking, or hunting allow you to fully enjoy the recreational, ecological, spiritual, and health benefits that wilderness areas offer. These areas provide “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation,” chances to observe wildlife, moments to renew and refresh, and the physical benefits of outdoor exercise. In many wilderness areas, you can even bring your well-behaved dog.

Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.

The Charles C. Deam Wilderness, the only designated wilderness area in Indiana, offers 36 miles of trails for hiking, backpacking, and horse riding through scenic hardwood forest and varied terrain with views of nearby Monroe Lake. Tower Ridge road divides this Wilderness into a smaller northern section and a largest southern one. As recently as fifty years ago, 81 farms dotted the landscape, every ridge was planted with corn or hay, and 57 miles of roads traversed the higher ground. While the area still shows signs of human alteration, the Wilderness is gradually returning to its natural state. Bird species such as flycatchers, scarlet tanagers, red-eyed vireos, hawks, and woodpeckers now thrive in the thickening forest. Among the reptiles, you may encounter the poisonous timber rattlesnake and the copperhead.

Following the wilderness designation in 1982, visitor use increased to a point that significant damage was occurring. Special restrictions are in place to protect wilderness character. Visitors are asked to follow these restrictions to lessen impact and share responsibility in preserving this special place.

The north border of the Deam Wilderness is Monroe Lake, Indiana's largest reservoir. Visitors should be aware that since the purpose of the reservoir is flood control, water levels fluctuate and some campsites may experience flooding and be unusable for periods of time. In the summer months, visitors should expect to encounter chiggers, ticks, and poison ivy.

Leave No Trace

How to follow the seven standard Leave No Trace principles differs in different parts of the country (desert vs. Rocky Mountains). Click on any of the principles listed below to learn more about how they apply in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness.

Plan Ahead and Prepare
Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
Dispose of Waste Properly
Leave What You Find
Minimize Campfire Impacts
Respect Wildlife
Be Considerate of Other Visitors

For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.

Location

Maps

Digital and paper maps are critical tools for wilderness visitors. Online maps can help you plan and prepare for your visit ahead of time. You can also carry digital maps with you on your GPS unit or other handheld GPS device. Having a paper map with you in the backcountry, as well as solid orienteering skills, however, ensures that you can still route-find in the event that your electronic device fails.

Online Maps

Interactive Map of the Charles C. Deam Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Indiana Wildernesses

Printed Maps

Fetching MyTopo from Database

USGS Store

Rules & Regulations

Motorized equipment and equipment used for mechanical transport is generally prohibited in all wilderness areas. This includes the use of motor vehicles, motorboats, motorized equipment, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts, portage wheels, and the landing of aircraft including helicopters.

Wilderness-Specific Regulations

Learn more about why regulations may be necessary in wilderness.

Contacts

Applicable Wilderness Law(s)

Public Law 97-384

Date: December 22, 1982
Acreage: 12,953 acres

(No official title, designates Charles C. Deam Wilderness) - Public law 97-384 (12/22/1982) To establish the Charles C. Deam Wilderness in the Hoosier National Forest, Indiana

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 97-384 or special provisions for 97-384 or legislative history for 97-384.

Want to Volunteer for Wilderness?

People who volunteer their time to steward our wilderness areas are an essential part of wilderness management. Contact the following groups to inquire about volunteer opportunities. Groups are listed alphabetically by the state(s) in which the wilderness is located.