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.

The state's second largest Wilderness area straddles the Continental Divide deep in the heart of Wyoming's Yellowstone Ecosystem. It is bordered on the north by Yellowstone National Park, on the east by Washakie Wilderness, on the west by Grand Teton National Park, and on the south by the Mt Leidy Highlands and Gros Ventre Wilderness. To the west of the Great Divide the land is dominated by timbered ridges, grassy slopes, and broad willow and sedge meadows with elevations from 7,000 feet to 9,675 feet. To the east of the Great Divide are high alpine plateaus broken by ridges and extensive mountain meadows with elevations from 8,000 feet to 12,165 feet (Younts Peak). On Two Ocean Pass, the famous Two Ocean Creek splits to send water to both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Within the Teton Wilderness the headwaters of the notable Yellowstone and Snake Rivers arise in alpine meadows of willow and sedge. You'll see evidence of the great fires from the summer of 1988 that burned here and in Yellowstone. In 1987 the highest elevation tornado ever recorded mowed a 20-mile-long, two-mile-wide swath through an area near Enos Lake. But in general, this area is vast, spectacular, and relatively unspoiled. Teton Wilderness ranks among this nation's best wildlife areas. Summer brings trumpeter swans, sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, falcons, and song birds. Grizzly bears, grey wolves, moose and elk wander across meadows. Golden and bald eagles, hawks, grouse, coyotes, beavers, martens, bobcats, porcupines, otters, and mink live here year-round. Approximately 450 miles of trails provide access to this popular area. About half of the visitors to this area come expressly to hunt and fish. Home to numerous large predators, Grizzly and Black Bears, Grey Wolves, and Mountain Lion, it is strongly recommend that all visitors take precautions and come prepared to recreate accordingly.

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 Teton 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 Teton Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Wyoming 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 88-577

Date: September 3, 1964
Acreage: 563,460 acres

The Wilderness Act - Public law 88-577 (9/3/1964) To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 88-577 or special provisions for 88-577 or legislative history for 88-577.

Public Law 98-550

Date: October 30, 1984
Acreage: 28,156 acres

Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-550 (10/30/1984) To designate certain lands in the state of Wyoming for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, to release other forest lands for multiple use management, to withdraw designated wilderness areas in Wyoming from minerals activity, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-550 or special provisions for 98-550 or legislative history for 98-550.

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.