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.

Named for the long, narrow ridge early settlers called the Devils Backbone, this Wilderness area is a distinctive mix of Missouri Ozark flora and fauna, with rugged terrain, spring-fed streams, and the scenic North Fork River.

Covering 6,687 acres, Devils Backbone Wilderness is ideal for day hikes or overnight backpacking. Its central ridge rises to a peak of 1,020 feet, with thirteen miles of maintained foot and horse trails following the Backbone and four other ridges, dropping into surrounding hollows shaded by oak, hickory, and shortleaf pine. Elevations range from 1,020 feet to 680 feet along the North Fork of the White River, a high-quality, spring-fed Ozark stream fed by Blue, Amber, and McGarr Springs.

In spring, dogwood, redbud, and wild azaleas burst with color, while fall brings vivid displays of yellow, orange, and red from oaks, sweetgum, and sugar maples.

Limestone glades and open areas offer some of the best opportunities for wildlife viewing. White-tailed deer, gray squirrels, raccoons, coyotes, red and gray foxes, bobcats, and striped skunks roam the area, along with wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, great horned owls, bald eagles, turkey vultures, great blue herons, pileated woodpeckers, and various songbirds. Reptiles include copperheads and eastern timber rattlesnakes, which are present but easily avoided.

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 Devils Backbone 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 Devils Backbone Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Missouri 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 96-560

Date: December 22, 1980
Acreage: 6,800 acres

Colorado Wilderness Act - Public Law 96-560 (12/22/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the States of Colorado, South Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina, and Louisiana for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-560 or special provisions for 96-560 or legislative history for 96-560.

Public Law 105-210

Date: July 29, 1998
Acreage: 0 acres

(No official title, boundary adjustment for Devils Backbone Wilderness) - Public Law 105-210 (7/29/1998) To make a minor adjustment in the exterior boundary of the Devils Backbone in the Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri, to exclude a small parcel of land containing improvements

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 105-210 or legislative history for 105-210.

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.