Visit Wilderness
Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
Why Visit Wilderness?
Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.
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Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
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.
Piney Creek Wilderness lies on the west side of Missouri’s Table Rock Lake. Logged by railroad companies in the late 1800s and later farmed by settlers, the area was once known for its fertile soil that produced abundant tomatoes and strawberries. By the early 1950s, however, the last of these households had been abandoned.
The ridgetops rise over 400 feet above the drainages, with shortleaf pine, oak, and hickory forests covering the high ground. Along the creek beds, hardwoods like sycamore, ash, elm, buckeye, and walnut thrive. Numerous small springs feed the area’s waterways, and Piney Creek—the main stream—runs through its entire five-mile watershed before reaching scenic Table Rock Lake.
This Wilderness offers 12.1 miles of trails, including a primary east-west trail that follows Piney Creek for about four miles. From the Pineview Tower Trailhead, two paths of about 1.5 miles each lead south toward Piney Creek, with additional foot and horse trails branching off, some following old roadbeds.
Wildlife typical of the Ozarks abounds here, including armadillos, great blue herons, and pileated woodpeckers. Visitors should also be mindful of the area’s reptile population, which includes copperheads, eastern timber rattlesnakes, and western pygmy rattlers. With its diverse landscapes, rich history, and vibrant ecosystem, Piney Creek Wilderness offers a quintessential Ozark experience.
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 Piney Creek Wilderness.
For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.
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.
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.
Date: December 22, 1980
Acreage: 8,400 acres
Colorado Wilderness Act - Public Law 96-560 (12/22/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the States of Colorado, South Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina, and Louisiana for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System
For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-560 or special provisions for 96-560 or legislative history for 96-560 for this law.
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.