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.

This steeply rugged Wilderness drapes across the northern, northeastern, and southwestern flanks of 4,784-foot Brasstown Bald Mountain, the highest point in the state. A Forest Service visitor center is located on top of the mountain just outside of the Wilderness. This center provides a panoramic view of the Wilderness.

Here you'll find boulder fields, rock formations, and streams cascading through narrow gorges, giving way periodically to waterfalls. Second-growth hardwoods dominate this flora-rich region, highlighted in spring and summer by a profusion of wildflowers. Deer, squirrels, ruffed grouse, black bears, woodcocks, and wild turkeys can be found. The rare New England cottontail rabbit, southeastern shrew, and pygmy shrew also seek shelter here.

Hikers tend to stick to the only developed trails in the area: the steep 5.5-mile Arkaqua National Recreation Trail, which begins at the Brasstown Bald parking area just outside the Wilderness, and the 4.5-mile Jack's Knob National Recreation Trail, which ties the Appalachian Trail to the same parking lot.

Hikers should be aware that encounters with black bears are common in the area. The use of bear proof food storage containers is highly recommended.

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 Brasstown 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

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 Brasstown Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Georgia 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 99-555

Date: October 27, 1986
Acreage: 1,160 acres

Georgia Wilderness Act of 1986 - Public law 99-555 (1/21/1986) To designate certain National Forest lands in the State of Georgia to the National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 99-555 or legislative history for 99-555.

Public Law 102-217

Date: December 11, 1991
Acreage: 11,405 acres

Chattahoochee National Forest Protection Act of 1991 - Public law 102-217 (12/11/1991) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the State of Georgia as wilderness, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 102-217 or legislative history for 102-217.

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.