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.

At 5,216 feet, Mount Nutt presides over a colorful and wild terrain encompassing eight miles of the central and highest portion of the Black Mountains. Along the main ridgeline you'll find prominent mesas that have been cut into a series of steep canyon mazes. The outlying area is ringed by volcanic plugs and drops as lows as 2,200 feet near the Wilderness boundary.

More than 100 desert bighorn sheep are known to make their home in the Wilderness. Numerous springs in the area sustain small oases of large cottonwoods, willows, and oaks. A parcel of privately held land exists in the western portion. Human visitors come to backpack, hunt, scramble on the rocks, and take photographs in the morning and evening when the sun casts a delightful glow on the carved volcanic landforms.

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 Mount Nutt 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

The Mount Nutt Wilderness is located in Mohave County, 15 miles west of Kingman, Arizona and 12 miles east of Bullhead City, Arizona.

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 Mount Nutt Wilderness
Google Earth

Arizona 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 101-628

Date: November 28, 1990
Acreage: 27,530 acres

Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990 - Public law 101-628 (11/28/1990) To provide for the designation of certain public lands as wilderness in the State of Arizona

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 101-628 or special provisions for 101-628 or legislative history for 101-628.

General Trip Planning Information

Plan ahead, always check weather conditions prior to your trip. Summer time temperatures often exceed 100° F.Water is relatively scarce in this part of the Black Mountains. Springs shown on topographic maps can generally be relied upon for drinking water. Following rainy weather, pothole water is available, but can dry up quickly. Purification of all water is a necessity.

Recreational Opportunities

The area provides excellent opportunities for recreation such as camping, hiking, hunting, backpacking, picnicking, horseback riding, wildlife observation, and photography. Group size limits of 10 people and six pack animals are encouraged.

Climate and Special Equipment Needs

The summer climate in this wilderness unit is harsh. Daytime temperatures during the summer months are over 100 degrees. Temperatures are more moderate between October 1 and April 30th. No wood collection within the wilderness is permitted. Charcoal or wood brought in is permitted.

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.