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.

Sespe Wilderness provides ample evidence of past violent geological upthrusts.

The landscape is bleak and jagged, and if you climb high enough, you'll find pine trees growing at odd angles on boulder-swept hillsides.

Sespe Creek, the last remaining undammed river in Southern California, runs for 31.5 Wild and Scenic miles (most of it in the Wilderness), and 10.5 miles of Upper Sespe Creek are under consideration for designation.

Sandstone cliffs rise as much as 500 feet above the water in places, and fabulous sandstone formations stand in portions of the area.

You may see petroglyphs and other evidence of ancient Indians.

You might also spot black bears, deer, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, rattlesnakes, red-tailed hawks, and golden eagles. The 53,000-acre Sespe Condor Sanctuary is located here, but public entry is prohibited to protect California condors.

The Wilderness area is a part of the fourth largest roadless region left in the Lower 48, and it's the one closest to a large metropolitan area.

Numerous trails provide access, and human use is moderate. The Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail leads 18 miles through impressive white rocks to pleasant campsites nestled in conifers, a boon when much of the area lies without shade. The Sespe River Trail (17.5 miles) leads past cool swimming holes that thin down to shallows in the dry period, and on to Sespe Hot Springs and some of the hottest natural water in America.

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 Sespe 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 Sespe Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

California 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 102-301

Date: June 19, 1992
Acreage: 219,700 acres

Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act - Public law 102-301 (6/19/1992) Entitled the "Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act"

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 102-301 or special provisions for 102-301 or legislative history for 102-301.

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.