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 Horse Valley Wilderness is part of the San Rafael Swell, which features magnificent badlands of brightly colored and wildly eroded sandstone formations, deep canyons, and giant plates of stone tilted upright through massive geologic upheaval. This landscape reveals a geological history laid bare through millennia of upheaval and erosion. The geologic history of the San Rafael Swell area began 40 to 60 million years ago when a massive uplift formed a geologic antic line. This bulge in the earth’s crust eventually eroded to leave high mesas, deep canyons, domes, spectacular arches, and spires. The terrain varies from the sheer cliffs and dazzling canyons to more gently carved badlands broken by shallow washes. The fins and folds of the San Rafael Reef jut through the southeast side of the area with dramatic sheer-walled cliffs, pinnacles, the knobs of Goblin Valley, twisted canyons, and valleys of stunning colors. Few canyons can compare to the entrenched, narrow gorges of the Black Boxes of the San Rafael River, which twists and turns through the San Rafael Swell. At the Head of Sinbad, water flows to the north, south, east, and west. Excavations have uncovered numerous fossils including more than 12,000 bones of at least 70 different animals as well as a dinosaur egg, complete with embryo. Evidence of Native American cultures, including the Fremont, Paiute, and Ute, is common throughout the San Rafael Swell in the form of pictograph and petroglyph panels. From about 1776 to the mid-1850s the Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through (or just north of) the Swell. The Swell provides excellent habitat for wildlife. More than 200 sure-footed Desert Bighorn Sheep live among the crags of this rugged landscape. Also found in the area are Bald Eagles and Peregrin Falcons, both Federally listed Endangered Species and other birds of prey, including Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, and Prairie Falcons.

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 Eldorado 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

Drive south on U.S. 95 from Las Vegas and then drive east on State Route 165 to a parking/pull-out located two miles north of Nelson. -The parking area is on the north side of the road near the ridge prior to descending into the valley where the town of Nelson is located. From the parking area it is an easily accessible one mile walk to Bridge Spring. From Bridge Spring continue to hike east over a ridge and you will enter the Eldorado Wilderness at Oak Creek Canyon.

Drive south on U.S. 95 from Las Vegas and then drive east on State Route 165 to Approved Road 49 which exits to the north just east of the Techatticup Mine. This Approved Road leads to the wilderness boundary, which is approximately 7 miles north, and provides access to Lonesome Wash which leads to Lake Mohave.

Drive to Boulder City, Nevada. Drive east on Buchanan Blvd until you cross the boundary into Lake Mead NRA. This dirt road becomes Approved Road 60 (Burro Wash Road) and very shortly after crossing the park boundary becomes washed out and difficult to maneuver. This portion of the road is only accessible via high- clearance, 4-wheel drive vehicles. The dirt road follows a power line corridor from the WAPA electrical substation and provides access to a remote and rugged section of the Eldorado Wilderness.

The entire eastern boundary of the wilderness is accessible by boat from Lake Mohave. The closest boat launch is at Willow Beach in Arizona. At approximately River Mile Marker 43 the entry to Lonesome Wash is accessible from the river. The wilderness boundary begins 300 feet above the high water line.

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 Eldorado Wilderness
Google Earth

Nevada 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 107-282

Date: November 6, 2002
Acreage: 31,950 acres

Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002 - Public law 107-282 (11/6/2002) To establish wilderness areas, promote conservation, improve public land, and provide for high quality development in Clark County, Nevada, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 107-282 or special provisions for 107-282 or legislative history for 107-282.

General Trip Planning Information

Always leave trip information with family or friends. This means your trip length, when you will return, and where you will be departing from in the park.

Take adequate provisions with you including food and water. Remember, you are in a desert and water is scarce. In addition, carry a basic first aid kit.

Before your trip, learn about the hazards you may encounter and take adequate precautions. Select appropriate clothing and equipment. Always hike with a companion.

Know your own limitations and the abilities and weaknesses of your hiking companions. Plan your route and rate of travel around the weakest member. Make sure that each member of your party knows what gear the others have packed.

Have an emergency plan. When journeying into the wilderness if an emergency arises, you may not be able to reach help in a timely manner. This means cell phones and radios may not work in rugged or remote parts of the park.

Know your location using a map, Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or compass. If you encounter trouble, do not be afraid to turn back. Be aware that trails, trail signs, and place signs may be missing due to vandalism or wash outs.

Recreational Opportunities

The Eldorado Wilderness provides a stunning stage for hiking, horseback riding, and camping. Wildlife is abundant, with bighorn sheep in the mountains and migrating birds near the river. Hunting is allowed with proper licensing; however, target practice is prohibited.

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.