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.

In 1889 John Muir described himself as a "self-styled poetico-tramp-geologist-bot. and ornith-natural, etc.!!! ".

John Muir spent his life advocating for the protection of the wild parts of the Sierra Nevada. He believed that public support for the protection of these lands would come about if more of the public experienced these areas. He formed the Sierra Club for just this reason.

The John Muir Wilderness encompasses many of the lands that Muir explored in the late 1800's. From east of Fresno California in the north, the John Muir Wilderness forks around Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park and extends some 100 miles to the south with its southern most boundary just west of Lone Pine, California. With an additional 70,411 acres added to the Wilderness through the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, there are 650,734 acres within this Wilderness.

Elevations range from 4,000 feet to just below the Mt. Whitney summit at 14,497 feet. There are numerous peaks over 12,000 feet. Deep canyons, lofty peaks, meadows, lakes and expansive alpine terrain characterize this Wilderness.

The south and middle fork of the San Joaquin River, the North Fork of the Kings river and many creeks that flow into the Owens Valley to the east originate here.

The John Muir Wilderness is heavily visited and has use limits in the form of trailhead quotas on all the trailheads accessing the Wilderness from both the east and west side of the Sierra Nevada.

There are over 590 miles of maintained trails and the John Muir trail and Pacific Crest trail traverse portions of the Wilderness. Many trails originating in this Wilderness access the backcountry of Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.

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 John Muir 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 John Muir Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
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 88-577

Date: September 3, 1964
Acreage: 502,978 acres

The Wilderness Act - Public law 88-577 (9/3/1964) To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 88-577 or special provisions for 88-577 or legislative history for 88-577.

Public Law 98-425

Date: September 28, 1984
Acreage: 81,000 acres

California Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public Law 98-425 (9/28/1984) California Wilderness Act of 1984

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-425 or special provisions for 98-425 or legislative history for 98-425.

Public Law 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 70,411 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.