The Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness offers spectacular views of the historic Juan Bautista de Anza Trail, soaring peaks, and the vast desert landscape. Its chaparral covered slopes and forested mountaintop are home to mountain lion, mountain and California quail, and the rare red diamond rattlesnake.

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 Cahuilla Mountain 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 Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
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 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 5,585 acres

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Public law 111-11 (3/30/2009) An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 111-11 or special provisions for 111-11 or legislative history for 111-11.

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.

Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness

A sage and desert foreground gives way to dark brush, then way again to a great ridge of far off mountains.

Introduction

The United States Congress designated the Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness (map of the Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness) in 2009 and it now has a total of See Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness breakdown of 5,575 acres.

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Wilderness Acreage Breakdown for the Cahuilla Mountain Wilderness

Administrative Unit

Forest Service

Pacific Southwest Region

San Bernardino National Forest, California (5,575 Official acres).

Acreage Types

Legislated Acreage

Acreage shown is taken directly from wilderness legislation. This value is the initial acreage estimate that is usually determined in the mark-up committee and staff that write the legislative text and create the wilderness boundary legal descriptions. In the past, these totals were estimated by using graphic tools such as dot grids or by adding Public Land Survey sections and fractional sections to estimate the initial acreage. This is a valid acreage estimate pending final boundary adjustment. Boundary adjustments involve land exchanges and inholdings that are resolved before the final Map of Record is filed.

Typical wilderness legislation wording regarding mapping: As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the appropriate Secretary shall file a map and a boundary description of each area designated as wilderness by this Act with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the United States House of Representatives. Each map and description shall have the same force and effect as if included in this Act, except that the appropriate Secretary is authorized to correct clerical and typographical errors in such boundary descriptions and maps.

Official Acreage

Responsibility for reporting wilderness acreage by each agency resides in the Lands or Realty divisions. This is often in the form of an annual lands report. The administering agency determines acreage by verifying changes that result from realignment of boundaries. Inholdings may or may not be excluded from acreage estimates (Forest Service acreage figures do not include inholdings). Once final boundary adjustments have been made and the final Map of Record has been filed, accurate computation of wilderness acreage is possible through Geographic Information System (GIS) procedures.

All of this Wilderness is located in California and is managed by the Forest Service.