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.

There may not be a thousand lakes here, but the exaggeration is understandable given the area's seven major bodies of crystalline water and myriad smaller ponds. They are sprinkled throughout an area of mountainous volcanic and glacial formations, rocky ravines, open meadows, and stands of lodgepole pine and red fir.

The highest point in Lassen National Forest at 8,677 feet, Crater Peak presides over this small Wilderness and serves as a reminder of the glacial erosion that wore down Thousand Lakes Volcano to today's terrain. Near the base of the old volcano, you'll find the area's lowest point at 5,546 feet.

Wildlife enthusiasts might see mule deer, black bear, pine marten, and pika, while bird-watchers train their binoculars on goshawks, owls, pileated woodpeckers, and Clark's nutcrackers.

This area will serve you well if you wish a short Wilderness trip, especially if you enjoy fishing. Many people already know this, and Thousand Lakes receives moderate human use, with trout anglers forming the biggest contingent.

Three trailheads give access to about 21 miles of maintained trails. From the Bunchgrass Trailhead, you can cross south to north, a scenic six-mile path through the area with the greatest concentration of lakes, and out to the Cypress Trailhead.

Snow usually melts by early June, just as the mosquitoes begin to hatch in thick swarms.

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 Thousand Lakes 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 Thousand Lakes 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 88-577

Date: September 3, 1964
Acreage: 15,695 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.

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.