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.

Just an hour north of Las Vegas, Nevada lies the Muddy Mountains Wilderness, a place of wonder and mystery, an area of outrageous geology and colorful Mojave Desert habitat. This region of shadowy slot canyon, striking geological formations and expansive views of Lake Mead is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service.

The Muddy Mountains tower over the red, magenta, and tan colored sandstone exposed through a limestone "window" at Bowl of Fire, Anniversary Narrows, and Hidden Valley. These folded and faulted lands are dominated by a thrust fault of gray limestone over Aztec sandstone. Purple and white mudstone hills and gypsum bearing soils of brown and red hues are present in the lowest elevations.

Water has carved an extraordinary 600-foot deep slot canyon through upturned multi-colored stone at Anniversary Narrows. Conglomerate rock forms light brown cliffs at the Gale Hills — a great place to find solitude as it requires route-finding skills and receives less use than other locations.

People have lived in and passed through these mountains for thousands of years. They have left behind rock art, artifacts, agave roasting pits, and rock shelters.

Although hundreds of miles inland, the geology of the Muddy Mountains region gives an informative glimpse into geologic time. About 300 million years ago, this area was sediment at the bottom of the sea. Today, that sea floor comprises the limestone peaks that jut 5,400 feet into the sky. Scattered among the peaks are fossilized sand dunes that have eroded into galleries and canyons, intricately carved and painted in shade of red, orange and yellow. The unusual sandstone formations of Hidden Valley were exposed through the limestone by erosion. The conglomerate of the Gale Hills Formation is evident in cliffs, the highest being the 600-foot West End Wash Cliffs.

The landscape, ranging from 1,700 to 5,400 feet in elevation, displays a thriving Mojave Desert filled with waist-high creosote bush, black brush, yucca, beavertail cactus, catclaw acacia and desert willow. Las Vegas buckwheat and Las Vegas bearpoppy are rare plants that occur in the gypsum soils in the area. You may glimpse desert bighorn sheep, kit fox, jack rabbits and coyotes, desert tortoise, chuckwalla, Great Basin whiptails, rock wren, phainopepla and red-tailed hawks.

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

Approximately 7 miles of trail are designated in the Wilderness at Hidden Valley, the Gale Hills, and Anniversary Narrows, though there are other access points where you may find user-created routes to explore the wilderness area. Note that horse travel in the wilderness is limited to designated trails and washes.

The Muddy Mountains Wilderness provides a striking backdrop for hiking, horseback riding, and camping. Rock climbing and scrambling are allowed without the placement of fixed anchors. Hunting is permissible, but because of fragile vegetation and cryptogamic soil crusts, cross-country use of recreational riding or pack stock is not permitted. The only exception is for members of a hunting party in possession of a valid state hunting license and tag, and in pursuit of big game during hunting. Backcountry permits are not required.