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.

Snow Mountain is the southernmost peak in the North Coast Range. In Snow Mountain Wilderness, you'll find the transition zone between the Coast Range and the lower valley foothills.

Higher elevations are relatively flat and eroded, with some stands of red fir and large expanses of bare ground with trails that provide vast overlooks. Mid-elevations are covered in red, white, and Douglas fir and ponderosa pine growing on steep to very steep slopes dissected by stream-cut ravines. Chaparral brushlands and oak woodlands dominate the lowest elevations with many opportunities for relatively easy cross-country travel.

The Middle Fork of Stony Creek forms the primary drainage, shadowed in many places by rocky bluffs.

You'll see some areas recently burned by wildfire.

One hundred twenty-two species of wildlife may be found in the Snow Mountain Wilderness, including deer, bear, mountain lions, eagles, and hawks.

There are about 42 miles of trails suitable for horsepacker or backpacker. If you prefer horseback and less-visited places, you'll find the Snow Mountain Wilderness an exceptional choice.

The Overlook Loop provides an excellent vantage point from which to survey the Wilderness: 6.5 miles across old burns, up to high vistas, down into Dark Hollow Creek, and back to the Summit Springs Trailhead.

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 Snow Mountain 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 Snow Mountain 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 98-425

Date: September 28, 1984
Acreage: 37,000 acres

California Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public Law 98-425 (9/28/1984) California Wilderness Act of 1984

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-425 or special provisions for 98-425 or legislative history for 98-425.

Public Law 109-362

Date: October 17, 2006
Acreage: 23,706 acres

Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act - Public law 109-362 (10/17/2006) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the Mendocino and Six Rivers National Forests and certain Bureau of Land Management lands in Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, and Napa Counties in the State of California as wilderness, to designate the Elkhorn Ridge Potential Wilderness Area, to designate certain segments of the Black Butte River in Mendocino County, California as a wild or scenic river, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 109-362 or special provisions for 109-362 or legislative history for 109-362.

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.