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.

Bridge Creek drains northeasterly from the edge of the summit of the Ochoco Mountains, essentially dividing the Wilderness into two meadow-filled plateaus. The peaks of East Point and North Point look across this small Wilderness from 6,625 feet and 6,607 feet, respectively. The view from North Point's 600-foot cliff face is particularly breathtaking.

Most of the 30 inches of annual precipitation falls as winter snow on a forest dominated by fir and larch with streaks of pine and clearings of sagebrush and bunchgrass. In the central core of the area, you'll find stands of white fir and lodgepole pine nearing 100 years in age.

Water gurgles perennially from five springs: Thompson, Pisgah, Masterson, Nelson, and Maxwell.

Mule deer and elk seek the densest thickets when hunters come in fall.

Bridge Creek is for those seeking a true wilderness adventure, as there are no maintained trails. Off-trail hiking (through a tangled understory) tends to be difficult.

Wind has stunted the trees and opened the country around North Point; a hike of about 1.2 miles from near Pisgah Springs along an abandoned jeep track will take you to the summit. Another abandoned trail leads about 1.5 miles to the summit of East Point.

You may very well have this area all to yourself.

In 2008 The Bridge Creek Fire burned most of the wilderness to stand replacement conditions. It is now more accessible with greater line-of-sight vistas. Please use caution as many trees have been weakened and present additional danger.

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 Bridge Creek 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 Bridge Creek Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Oregon 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 98-328

Date: June 26, 1984
Acreage: 5,400 acres

Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-328 (6/26/1984) To designate certain national forest system lands in the State of Oregon for inclusion in 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 98-328 or special provisions for 98-328 or legislative history for 98-328.

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.