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.

South of Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet the highest in the northeast, the large glacial cirque known as Oakes Gulf lies at the headwaters of the Dry River.

This river–and just to the east the Rocky Branch–carve sharply down through the heart of this Wilderness and offer contrast to the surrounding long, high ridgelines of the Southern Presidentials and Montalban Ridge.

The Dry River is something of a misnomer, as anyone who has tried to cross it after a period of even moderate rain can attest. This, and the many other streams in this Wilderness are flashy and swift, and run cold and clear from snow that melts well into the summer.

The area is characterized by mostly spruce-fir vegetation that runs from river bottoms onto the steep slopes of the high ridgelines. Changes in this pattern are found at the southern end of the Wilderness where northern hardwood forests–spectacular in their autumn foliage–dominate, and in the northernmost section where the weather and soils dictate that only alpine-adapted plants will survive.

Visitors may encounter deer, moose, black bear, or any of several other species of wildlife while traversing the area along approximately 43 miles of available hiking trails.

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 Presidential Range-Dry River 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 Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

New Hampshire 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: 20,380 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 98-323

Date: June 19, 1984
Acreage: 7,000 acres

New Hampshire Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-323 (6/19/1984) To establish wilderness areas in New Hampshire, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-323 or legislative history for 98-323.

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.