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.

Several deep, twisting canyons issue from the central core region and into the southern bajada. The eastern mountainous region holds hills, peaks, washes and draws. Many of the canyon areas and some of the boundary zones have spectacular cliffs. Elevations within the Wilderness boundaries range from approximately 2,600 to 6,200 feet.

This area provides steep, rugged terrain for desert bighorn sheep and a variety of raptors. The long sloping bajadas around the periphery of the wilderness provides critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise. The Delamar Mountains Wilderness encompasses a portion of the Mormon Mesa Desert Tortoise Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Sensitive species likely to be found in the wilderness area include the white bearpoppy and banded Gila monster.

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 Delamar Mountains 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 Delamar Mountains Wilderness is located in southern Lincoln County approximately seventy-five miles to the north of Las Vegas and fifteen miles southeast of Alamo.

Access to this wilderness from Las Vegas is via Highway 93. Kane Springs road and the Delamar powerline road, both bladed, dirt roads intersect Highway 93 and allow access to the southern and northwest portions 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 Delamar Mountains 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 108-424

Date: November 30, 2004
Acreage: 111,328 acres

Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 - Public law 108-424 (11/30/2004) To establish wilderness areas, promote conservation, improve public land, and provide for the high quality development in Lincoln County, Nevada, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 108-424 or special provisions for 108-424 or legislative history for 108-424.

Recreational Opportunities

On the north, a large northeasterly trending canyon makes an attractive hiking route. The higher peaks in the central and eastern portions are good destinations for camping and provide expansive views of the Sheep Range, Pahranagat Valley, Meadow Valley Range, Mormon Mountains, Kane Springs Valley and beyond. The steep and rocky terrain is good for rock scrambling, climbing, and hunting upland game. Due to the lack of water, horseback riding would be limited to the east portion out of Gregerson Basin.

Safety and Current Conditions

Contact Caliente Field Office for current weather, road conditions, and hazards.

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.