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.

Located in the Salmon River Mountains, the Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness is a diverse area ranging from sagebrush steppe ecosystems, to north-facing mid-elevations dominated by Douglas fir, and elevations above 9,000 feet dominated by short stature grasses and shrubs. Predominantly an open shrub environment of broad rolling slopes, it is punctuated by stands of conifers and riparian areas, including willows and aspen, and occasional volcanic outcrops forming hoodoos and, in the higher terrain, rugged slopes. Several designated trails enter the wilderness, and a number of wildlife trails provide more primitive access for cross-country hiking and exploration. The Wilderness provides quality habitat for elk, mule deer, moose, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, greater sage-grouse, bear, wolverine and wolves. The East Fork Salmon River and its tributaries support spawning and rearing habitats for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout and foster one of the longest, highest-elevation salmon migration routes in the world. Streams also sustain beaver and cutthroat and rainbow trout. Solitude is one of the area's greatest assets, as well as outstanding backcountry experiences such as hunting, fishing, hiking, wildlife viewing, backpacking, skiing, and horseback riding.

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 Jim McClure-Jerry Peak 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 Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Idaho 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 114-46

Date: August 7, 2015
Acreage: 116,898 acres

Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Jerry Peak Wilderness Additions Act - Public law 114-46 (8/7/2015) To establish certain wilderness areas in central Idaho and to authorize various land conveyances involving National Forest System land and Bureau of Land Management land in central Idaho, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 114-46 or special provisions for 114-46 or legislative history for 114-46.

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.