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.

Jagged peaks and spires are incised by mazes of twisting canyons in a distinctive part of the Chocolate Mountains preserved as Indian Pass Wilderness. Desert cloudbursts pour water down the canyons into several tree-lined washes. One of the washes, Julian Wash, dominates the heart of the Wilderness, running east toward the Colorado River and giving this area the local nickname of "Julian Wash Country." The region is crowned by Quartz Peak at 2,200 feet in the western portion. Proximity to the Colorado River and the Arizona desert contributes to wildlife species not commonly found in California: Colorado River toad, Great Plains toad, tree lizard. Mule deer scamper over the Wilderness, and the mountains provide ideal homes for desert bighorn sheep. Wild horses and burros sometimes can be seen in the area. Imperial National Wildlife Refuge lies immediately to the east.

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 Indian Pass 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 Indian Pass 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: 33,855 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.

Public Law 116-9

Date: March 12, 2019
Acreage: 10,860 acres

John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act - Public law 116-9 (3/12/2019) To provide for the management of the natural resources of the United States, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 116-9 or special provisions for 116-9 or legislative history for 116-9.

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.