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 Aden Lava Flow Wilderness is located 20 miles southwest of Las Cruces in the Chihuahuan Desert. The area is characterized by basalt flows, volcanic craters, and coppice sand dunes. The lava flow includes pressure ridges, lava tubes, and steep-walled depressions of up to 100 feet wide. Grass and shrubs grow on the flow with many cacti and yucca. Vegetation consists of grasslands and desert shrubs such as mesquite and creosote. Vent tubes, and the many crevices found in the lava, provide cover and den sites for wildlife. Melanistic (dark) forms of mammals and reptiles occur on the black lava flows. including the rock pocket mouse and black-tailed rattlesnake. Bats are also numerous, making their homes in the cracks of this broken lava landscape.

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 Aden Lava Flow 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

From Interstate 25 at Las Cruces, exit onto Interstate 10 west for approximately 17 miles and take exit #127/Corralitos Rd. Turn left at the immediate T-intersection and continue up to the overpass and turn left. Drive over the Interstate and turn right onto Robert Larson Blvd. Drive for just over 2 miles on Robert Larson Blvd, and veer left onto County Road B5. Drive southwest on CR B5 for about 8 miles, and just after crossing the railroad tracks, turn southeast onto County Road B4. Parallel the fence for approximately 7 miles to the wilderness boundary, the wilderness is to your right.

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 Aden Lava Flow Wilderness
Google Earth

New Mexico 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 116-9

Date: March 12, 2019
Acreage: 27,673 acres

John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act - Public law 116-9 (3/12/2019) To provide for the management of the natural resources of the United States, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 116-9 or special provisions for 116-9 or legislative history for 116-9.

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.