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.

You might expect to find a few gobblers running about these hills, but you will have to settle for deer (hunters don't seem to mind), snakes, stinging insects, ticks, and chiggers. A forest dense with hardwoods and pine covers the relatively gentle hills, as well as steeper slopes to the north and east.

Turkey Hill Wilderness belongs to the Bannister Wildlife Management Area on the Gulf Coastal Plain.

Turkey Hill anchors the southeastern corner, peaking at 298 feet above sea level. The wide, flat ridge tops around Turkey Hill exceed 300 feet in some places.

From Forest Service Road 307 on the southern boundary, the fairly easy to follow Wash Branch Trail runs north along Wash Branch (near the center of the area) and over a ridge, a distance of about 3.5 miles. Other trails, some of which fade out on ridges, access the eastern and western portions. You can usually find water in Sandy Creek, Clear Branch, and Wash Branch.

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 Turkey Hill 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 Turkey Hill Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Texas 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 98-574

Date: October 30, 1984
Acreage: 5,400 acres

Texas Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-574 (10/30/1984) To designate various areas as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System in the national forests in the state of Texas

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-574 or special provisions for 98-574 or legislative history for 98-574.

Public Law 99-584

Date: October 29, 1986
Acreage: 38 acres

Texas Wilderness Act Amendments of 1986 - Public law 99-584 (10/29/1986) To adjust the boundaries of areas of the National Wilderness Preservation System in the state of Texas

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 99-584 or special provisions for 99-584 or legislative history for 99-584.

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.