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 a natural bowl between Shavers Mountain (on the east side) and McGowan Mountain (on the west side) lies Otter Creek Wilderness.

Most of the numerous streams in the area flow into Otter Creek, which runs north across the Wilderness into the Dry Fork River. These streams frequently flash flood during periods of heavy rain. From the mouth of Otter Creek, the terrain rises to about 3,900 feet on McGowan Mountain.

The area, logged extensively between 1897 and 1914, now sports a second-growth forest, dense thickets of rhododendron and mountain laurel along the streams, and a variety of mosses in damper regions. Spruce dominate the higher country and give way to hardwoods such as black cherry and yellow birch lower down.

Black bears have returned and are reunited with white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, hares, rabbits, grouse, and several species of squirrels. Beavers are active in several spots. Timber rattlesnakes may be seen, and Otter Creek shelters a small population of brook trout.

You can explore the Wilderness on over 40 miles of trails, many following old railroad grades. The longest and most used path is the Otter Creek Trail that follows Otter Creek with bridge access across Dry Fork River on the north end. Once on the trail, you'll have to ford the creek several times.

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 Otter Creek 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 Otter Creek Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

West Virginia 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 93-622

Date: January 3, 1975
Acreage: 20,000 acres

(Known as the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act) - Public law 93-622 (1/3/1975) To further the purposes of the Wilderness Act by designating certain acquired lands for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, to provide for study of certain additional lands for such inclusion, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 93-622 or special provisions for 93-622 or legislative history for 93-622.

Public Law 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 698 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.