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.

Shared by Oklahoma and Arkansas, this area contains the 13-mile-long, rugged ridge of Black Fork Mountain. Large rock flows or "glaciers" and sandstone bluffs stand above a forest dominated by oak and shortleaf pine. The northern slopes support hardwoods with an open understory. A forest of dwarf oaks adds to the cover of vegetation, which includes several unique plant species, such as serviceberry and granddaddy graybeard, hidden away in small coves. There are no maintained trails on the Oklahoma side, and you'll find the hiking to be challenging. On the Arkansas side, the Black Fork Mountain Trail, six miles long one-way, passes several pioneer sites dating back to the late 1800s as it winds its way to the top of Black Fork Mountain, over 2,400 feet above sea level. The mountain is actually a 13-mile-long east-west ridge, a geologic uplift that runs well into Oklahoma. The Wilderness boundary also follows the ridge into Oklahoma. Some of the slopes near the top of the ridge on the Oklahoma side are nearly vertical. Rock scree slopes, sometimes called rock "glaciers," flow off in many locations. In both states the ridge rises to scenic overlooks that offer spectacular vistas of this region. Lower slopes are heavily forested with shortleaf pine, blackjack oaks, and ancient dwarf oaks. Solitude reigns here, as Black Fork Mountain receives few human visitors. Some of the shrubs and trees in the area are seldom seen anywhere else in this region. Beyond the Ouachita River and Big Creek, which border the Wilderness, the area holds no water except for two small springs on the mountain that flow most of the year. The hiking is considered difficult.

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 Black Fork 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 Black Fork Mountain Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Arkansas Wildernesses
Oklahoma 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 98-508

Date: October 19, 1984
Acreage: 7,568 acres

Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984 (Dale Bumpers Wilderness Resources Protection Act) - Public law 98-508 (10/19/1984) To designate certain national forest system lands in the State of Arkansas for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-508 or special provisions for 98-508 or legislative history for 98-508.

Public Law 100-499

Date: October 18, 1988
Acreage: 4,583 acres

Winding Stair Mountain National Recreation and Wilderness Area Act - Public law 100-499 (10/18/1988) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the State of Oklahoma for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, creating the Winding Stair Mountain National Recreation and Wilderness Area, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 100-499 or special provisions for 100-499 or legislative history for 100-499.

Public Law 105-245

Date: October 7, 1998
Acreage: 0 acres

Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 1999 - Public Law 105-245 (10/7/1998) Dale Bumpers Wilderness Resources Protection Act of 1998

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 105-245 or special provisions for 105-245 or legislative history for 105-245.

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.