Visit Wilderness
Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
Why Visit Wilderness?
Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.
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Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.
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.
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 Bristlecone Wilderness.
For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.
The Bristlecone Wilderness is located in central White Pine County, approximately five miles due west of McGill, Nevada, or about 10 miles north of Ely, Nevada. To access to this wilderness from Ely: head north on Federal Highway 93 for 5 miles. Turn left on State Highway 490; at the stop sign turn right onto Lackawana Road. After leaving the small community of Cross Timbers, drive about a mile to a dirt road on your right that will take you along the eastern side of the range, or proceed through Hercules Gap to access the west side of the Bristlecone Wilderness.
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.
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.
Date: December 20, 2006
Acreage: 14,095 acres
Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 - Public law 109-432 (12/20/2006) To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend expiring provisions, and for other purposes.
For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 109-432 or special provisions for 109-432 or legislative history for 109-432 for this law.
Recreational opportunities include camping, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, and hunting. The Bristlecone Wilderness provides opportunities for solitude in the canyons extending from Heusser Mountain (9,409 feet) or tucked back in The Cove. Spectacular views of Steptoe Valley and the Schell Creek Range are afforded those who hike to the top of Heusser Mountain. See area management for regulations.
Contact the Ely District Office for current road conditions and hazards.
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.