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.

Pioneers grabbed up this area, once part of the Cherokee Nation, starting in 1796. After settlement, most of the land was purchased, first by a paper company in the early 1900s, then by a lumber company. A town shaped up at the junction of the Right Prong, Middle Prong, and Left Prong of the West Fork of the Pigeon River.

The town was later relocated, but the lumber company continued its quest for timber, removing vast stands of red spruce, Fraser fir, hemlocks, and hardwoods from 1906 to 1926 and building an extensive system of logging railroads. Four of these old railroad beds are now used as hiking trails in today's Middle Prong Wilderness.

The Wilderness rests on high ridges southeast of Richland Balsam, a steep and rugged terrain forested with second-growth spruce and fir, and opened by grass-heath "balds" on the ridges. Mixed hardwoods cover the lower slopes.

Elevations range from 3,200 feet on the West Fork of the Pigeon River to 6,400 feet near Richland Balsam. Numerous streams work their way down to the river.

Only a road separates this Wilderness from Shining Rock Wilderness to the north. The Blue Ridge Parkway parallels the southern boundary.

Middle Prong is a small Wilderness with a limited and primitive trail system. The hiking rates as difficult, but ample opportunities exist for solitude. The most used trail is a four-mile portion (approximate distance) of the Mountains-to-Sea route to the extreme south. The Green Mountain Trail (approximately six miles) crosses the area from north to south.

No campfires are permitted, and group size is limited to 10.

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 Middle Prong 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 Middle Prong Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

North Carolina 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 98-324

Date: June 19, 1984
Acreage: 7,900 acres

North Carolina Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-324 (6/19/1984) To designate certain public lands in North Carolina as additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-324 or legislative history for 98-324.

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.