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 Highland Ridge Wilderness lies at the southern end of the Snake Range, adjacent to Great Basin National Park. This area encompasses varying terrain, from sagebrush covered foothills to steep ridges with sheer rock outcrops. The steep, upland mountains are dotted with pinyon pine and juniper trees or higher up with limber and bristlecone pine. Several riparian corridors stretch through the area, lined with aspen, chokecherry, and currant. Wildflowers bloom during spring with paintbrush and blue flax being the most numerous. Mule deer elk and pronghorn antelope are common throughout the area. The rocky ledges and steep, forested mountains provide great habitat for stalking cougars. Elevations in the area include ridges at 10,000 feet, but also rolling hills of pinyon-juniper and sagebrush woodlands at 6,000 feet.

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 Highland Ridge 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 Highland Ridge Wilderness is located in southeastern White Pine County approximately 20 miles south of Baker, Nevada; immediately south of Great Basin National Park. Access to the eastern side of the Highland Ridge Wilderness from Baker, Nevada is along state highway 487 to the southeast for 12 miles to USFS road 450. (This road will lead into Utah for several miles.) Turn right onto USFS 450. Continue along this road for approximately 5.5 miles. At this point you may turn left onto BLM road 4090 which heads south along the eastern side, or continue straight to access the northeastern boundary.

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 Highland Ridge 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 109-432

Date: December 20, 2006
Acreage: 68,627 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.

General Trip Planning Information

Recreational opportunities involve hiking, camping, hunting, horse-back riding and photography. See area management for regulations.

Contact Ely 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.