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.

Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness is a place of breathtaking panoramas and natural history.

This Wilderness is characterized by gentle slopes and an impressive expanse of old-growth Joshua trees.

In Paiute language, Wee Thump means "ancient ones." On average, Joshua trees grow only a half-inch per year. Many of the trees in this Wilderness are more than 30 feet tall and could be more than 900 years old, making them some of the oldest and largest Joshua trees in the world.

Silence is common throughout these gentle slopes. Infrequent visitor use and the ability to lose oneself in the maze of Joshua trees result in outstanding opportunities for solitude. Although the Wilderness is bordered by dirt roads and a highway, the majority of the area is characterized by long periods of natural quiet.

This is a great place to get out of the car and stretch your legs among the "ancient ones" on the Joshua Tree Trail. Grab your binoculars to take in the sights and sounds of what may possibly be one of southern Nevada's best birding spots.

Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness lies on the gently sloping bajada and is southeast of the nearby South McCullough Wilderness.

The gently sloping alluvia deposits are comprised of un-sorted sand, gravel and cobbles. The soils is composed of the broken-down metamorphic rock of the McCullough Range.

The landscape ranges from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation.

Other plants that can be found in this area include blackbrush, Mojave yucca, buckhorn cholla, creosote bush, white bursage, banana yucca, bunch grass, matted cholla, and prickly pear cactus.

Gilded flicker (known to occur only at this location in Nevada), northern flicker, ladder-backed woodpecker, black-throated woodpecker, black-throated sparrow, red-tailed hawk, crissal thrasher, golden eagle, loggerhead shrike, cactus wren, desert tortoise, desert bighorn sheep, coyote, desert cottontail, black-tailed jackrabbit, valley pocket gopher and desert woodrats can be glimpsed in this Wilderness.

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 Wee Thump Joshua Tree 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

The Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness is located between Searchlight, Nevada and Nipton, California. The wilderness sits just north of State Highway 164, which provides access to the southern border of the wilderness, and is flanked to the west by the South McCullough Range and to the east by the Highland Range.

Wee Thump East Road leads north from State Highway 164, providing access to the eastern border of the wilderness. Five miles west of Wee Thump East Road down State Highway 164, Wee Thump West Road leads north, providing access to the western border of the wilderness.

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 Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness
Google Earth

Nevada 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 107-282

Date: November 6, 2002
Acreage: 6,050 acres

Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002 - Public law 107-282 (11/6/2002) To establish wilderness areas, promote conservation, improve public land, and provide for high quality development in Clark County, Nevada, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 107-282 or special provisions for 107-282 or legislative history for 107-282.

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.