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.

The Far South Egans Wilderness consists primarily of an extremely rugged portion of the Egan Range. A mountain range not quite ready to surrender, the Egan Range dramatically ascends from about 5,800 feet to 9,823 feet to form the spectacular limestone cliffs with multicolored strata. The area includes an unusual and scenic intermixed Ponderosa and Bristlecone pine forest.

The east side of the Egan Range is less rugged and supports a dense cover of woodlands (pinyon and juniper). Large stands of ponderosa exist at higher elevations (7,000 feet). Mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and raptors such as golden eagles and ferruginous hawks are among numerous wildlife species found in the mountains of the Far South Egans 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 Far South Egans 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 Far South Egans Wilderness is located in east-central Nevada within Lincoln and Nye Counties. It lies fifty miles south of Ely, 200 miles North of Las Vegas, along the eastern side of U.S. Highway 318.

Access to this wilderness from Ely, Nevada is on Federal Highway 6 westbound approximately 23 miles. Then southbound on State Highway 318, through the town of Lund, approximately 38 miles to Shingle Pass Road, which will take you across the norhtern boundary 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 Far South Egans 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: 36,384 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 wild, untrammeled setting provides many excellent opportunities for recreation. Hiking, camping and backpacking are demanding because of the terrain, but very rewarding and pleasurable because of the area’s special features (bristlecone and ponderosa pines, an abandoned historic sawmill, high scenic values) and because of the impression that the many hidden places of the area have never before been visited. The exhilaration of discovery extends into the mountains themselves, with spelunking into Whipple Cave. Located in the northwest portion of the wilderness area, Whipple Cave provides 1,000 feet of known passage. Cave decorations include rimstone dams, draperies, and a huge column over thirty feet tall. Passage through the cave’s double sink entrance requires a technical 70-foot descent. The cave has sustained regular use, but because of the difficulty of entrance, use has been relatively light and the cave remains in a very natural state.
Technical rock climbers may find challenge all along the western side of the wilderness. Numerous rock outcrops and cliffs provide opportunities for a wide range of rock climbing. All of these recreational opportunities are available in an area where solitude is a guaranteed quality.

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.