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.

Part of the Wilson Creek Mountain Range, Parsnip Peak Wilderness provides an outstanding array of recreation and abundant solitude. The area is pristine, with riparian areas, wildlife and forest. Elevations, here, range from 6,160 to 8,916 feet.

Forest cover varies with elevation and aspect, with aspen groves predominating on the north slopes and thickets of mountain mahogany blanketing the south. Deer, elk and other ungulates browse these stands. Bald eagles like the pockets of fir which survive in craggy niches in the higher elevations. Native grasses flourish throughout the 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 Parsnip Peak 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 Parsnip Peak Wilderness is located in northeastern Lincoln County, approximately 25 miles northeast of Pioche, Nevada, within the Wilson Creek Mountain Range.

Access to this Wilderness area is 14 miles north of Pioche, Nevada on BLM road 4037 off federal highway 93.

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 Parsnip Peak 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: 43,693 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

This area is good for hiking and camping, backpacking, horseback riding, rock climbing, hunting and trapping, plus the study of archaeology and geology. Abundant prehistoric sites exist here. The Mount Wilson Archaeological District was delineated in the north end of the Wilderness and is eligible for nomination for the National Register of Historic Places. Pre-historic sites include campsites, rock rings, rock shelters and rock art. A unique feature is the "Indian Playground", an elaborate rock formation which feels almost man-made, and can be clearly seen from the air.

Safety and Current Conditions

Contact Bureau of Land Management Ely District 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.