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.

Managed by the National Park Service, Cumberland Island Wilderness protects sparkling white beaches and sand dunes, freshwater lakes, and saltwater marshes. It is Georgia's largest and southernmost barrier against seaborne storms.

The island measures about 16 miles in length and 3 miles at its’ widest, with approximately 1 mile of water and marshland separating it from the mainland. A maritime forest is the centerpiece of the island, providing shade for the deer that attract hunters during six managed hunts.

When the hunters appear (usually a few days every month from November through February), visitation and camping are restricted on parts of the island.\

The first-rate surf fishing attracts another kind of hunter (Georgia fishing license is required).

Attractions include the ruins of Thomas Carnegie's Dungeness Mansion, built in the late 1800s, a short walk from the ferry dock on the southern end of the island.

Alligators, loggerhead turtles, and pelicans live on the beaches.

The northern portion of the island has been designated Wilderness, starting approximately four miles north of the ferry dock (you have to take a passenger ferry to get here from the mainland).

For most of the year, insect repellent is strongly recommended for campers.

Beach access is allowed only at designated dune crossings.

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 Cumberland Island 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 Cumberland Island Wilderness
Google Earth

Georgia 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 97-250

Date: September 8, 1982
Acreage: 8,840 acres

(No official title, designates Cumberland Island Wilderness) - Public Law 97-250 (9/8/1982) To Correct the Boundary of Crater Lake National Park in the State of Oregon, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 97-250 or legislative history for 97-250.

Public Law 108-447

Date: December 8, 2004
Acreage: 1,046 acres

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 - Public law 108-447 (12/8/2004) To designate the Gaylord A. Nelson National Wilderness and to adjust the boundary of the Cumberland Island Wilderness, to authorize tours of the Cumberland Island National Seashore, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 108-447 or special provisions for 108-447 or legislative history for 108-447.

Public Law 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 0 acres

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Public law 111-11 (3/30/2009) An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 111-11 or special provisions for 111-11 or legislative history for 111-11.

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.