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.
The San Gabriel Wilderness is known for its extremely rugged and scenic terrain. Dense thickets of chaparral in the low country yield to mixed pine- and fir-covered slopes and ridge tops, which rise to majestic peaks and meadows rich with spring wildflowers. It lies within the newly designated San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Trails here include the 239W10 Bear Creek Trail, the 1310W04 Mount Waterman Trail #1 (with the 1310W04 mile-long side trail), Twin Peaks Trail to Twin Peak Saddle, the 1310W05 Mount Waterman Trail #2, and the 1311W07 Devil's Canyon Trail.
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 San Gabriel 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: May 24, 1968
Acreage: 36,000 acres
(No official title, designates San Gabriel Wilderness) - Public law 90-318 (5/24/1968) To designate the San Gabriel Wilderness, Angeles National Forest, in the State of California
For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 90-318 or legislative history for 90-318 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.