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 Cache Creek Wilderness is centered on a 17-mile stretch of Cache Creek, flowing from Clear Lake in eastern Lake County. The prominent feature within the wilderness is Cache Creek, which runs east towards the Capay Valley and the Sacramento River while forming a steep-sided canyon through most of the area. The steep canyon walls occasionally open to broad, grassy meadows with scattered valley oaks, such as Baton Flat, Wilson Valley, and Kennedy Flats. Numerous steep tributaries also feed into Cache Creek within the wilderness including Dry Creek, Rocky Creek, Trout Creek, and Crack Canyon. Outside the river canyon, the majority of the wilderness is dominated by rugged chaparral-covered hills. Elevations within the wilderness area range from 750 feet on Cache Creek at the eastern boundary to 3,196 feet at Brush Sky High.

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 Cache Creek 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 Cache Creek Wilderness Area is located east of Clear Lake in eastern Lake County. It is bounded primarily by the public land boundary and Perkins Creek Ridge on the west; the public land boundary on the north; the Lake/Colusa county line on the east; and the Lake/Yolo county line and the public land boundary line on the south.

Trailheads are located at the Redbud Trailhead (5 miles east of the 20/53 intersection on Hwy. 20, or 13 miles west of the 20/16 intersection on Hwy. 20); the Judge Davis Trailhead (14 miles east of the 20/53 intersection on Hwy. 20, or 4 miles west of the 20/16 intersection on Hwy. 20; Cowboy Camp (1 mile south of the 16/20 intersection on Hwy. 16; High Bridge (4½ miles south of the 16/20 intersection on Hwy. 16. Just east of the wilderness boundary, vehicle access (4WD recommended) is available to Buck Island (9 miles south of the 16/20 intersection, or 5 miles west of Rumsey on Hwy. 16, then turn south on Yolo County Road 40 crossing Cache Creek and continuing 5 miles to the turnoff to Buck Island/Langs Peak, then follow the road for 5 miles down to Buck Island.

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 Cache Creek Wilderness
Google Earth

California 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 109-362

Date: October 17, 2006
Acreage: 27,245 acres

Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act - Public law 109-362 (10/17/2006) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the Mendocino and Six Rivers National Forests and certain Bureau of Land Management lands in Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, and Napa Counties in the State of California as wilderness, to designate the Elkhorn Ridge Potential Wilderness Area, to designate certain segments of the Black Butte River in Mendocino County, California as a wild or scenic river, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 109-362 or special provisions for 109-362 or legislative history for 109-362.

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.