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 Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness offers a dramatic desert landscape defined by rugged granite peaks and sweeping views. Shaped like a horseshoe that opens east toward the Colorado River, the range surrounds a central valley of rolling hills covered in cholla, ocotillo, and occasional agave. From the west, pale granite peaks rise sharply above green creosote and cactus-filled bajadas, creating a vivid contrast. Closer to the river, the terrain shifts to red and gray volcanic spires and mesas, adding to the area's striking variety.

Red Rock and Trampas Washes cross the wilderness from west to east, their broad, sandy paths lined with trees. Springs and seeps dot the landscape, supporting bursts of life in the arid surroundings. Positioned between the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts—and influenced by river and eastern Arizona species—the area hosts a remarkable range of plants and animals.

Wildlife sightings might include bighorn sheep, desert mule deer, wild burros, and coyotes, as well as jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, roadrunners, quail, and several species of lizards. The southwestern portion of the wilderness is especially important as critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise. For those exploring its trails and washes, the Chemehuevi Mountains offer a unique window into the richness and resilience of desert ecosystems.

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 Chemehuevi Mountains 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

Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness lies 10 miles southeast of Needles, California along US Highway 95, in San Bernardino County. The twelve mile long Trampas Wash cuts its way through the mountains and provides the easiest hiking access into the interior of the wilderness and the Colorado River from the west side. Maps of the area can be obtained from the Bureau of Land Management Field Offices in Needles, California or Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

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 Chemehuevi Mountains Wilderness
Google Earth

California 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 103-433

Date: October 31, 1994
Acreage: 64,320 acres

California Desert Protection Act of 1994 - Public Law 103-433 (10/31/1994) "California Desert Protection Act of 1994" An Act to designate certain lands in the California Desert as wilderness, to establish the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, to establish the Mojave National Preserve, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 103-433 or special provisions for 103-433 or legislative history for 103-433.

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.