Visit Wilderness
Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
Why Visit Wilderness?
Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.
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Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
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.
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 Ventana Wilderness.
For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.
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.
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.
Date: August 18, 1969
Acreage: 98,000 acres
(No official title, designates Ventana Wilderness) - Public law 91-58 (8/18/1969) To designate the Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, in the State of California
For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 91-58 or legislative history for 91-58 for this law.
Date: February 24, 1978
Acreage: 61,000 acres
Endangered American Wilderness Act - Public law 95-237 (2/24/1978) To designate certain endangered public lands for preservation as wilderness, and for other purposes
For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 95-237 or special provisions for 95-237 or legislative history for 95-237 for this law.
Date: September 28, 1984
Acreage: 2,750 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 for this law.
Date: June 19, 1992
Acreage: 38,000 acres
Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act - Public law 102-301 (6/19/1992) Entitled the "Los Padres Condor Range and River Protection Act"
For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 102-301 or special provisions for 102-301 or legislative history for 102-301 for this law.
Date: December 19, 2002
Acreage: 37,110 acres
Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 - Public law 107-370 (12/19/2002) To designate certain lands in the State of California as components of 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 107-370 or special provisions for 107-370 or legislative history for 107-370 for this law.
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.