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.

Bright Star Canyon winds through Kelso Creek as it leaves Sequoia National Forest and enters the southern portion of the Bright Star Wilderness. To the northwest, Cortez Canyon cuts through the Kelso Mountains, while Kelso Peak rises to 5,090 feet in the northeast, with steep drainages spreading in all directions. Elevations in the area range from 3,000 feet in Kelso Valley to over 5,800 feet on the highest ridges.

The landscape changes with the seasons. Summer days can be hot, often exceeding 100°F, while cooler nights offer relief. In winter, snow blankets the higher elevations. After rainy seasons, wildflowers create vivid displays across the slopes. Vegetation shifts with elevation—piñon pine and juniper cover the upper slopes, brush and granite outcroppings mark the lower ones, and the valley below is filled with Joshua trees and boulders.

Where the Mojave Desert meets the Sierra Nevada, a rich variety of wildlife thrives. Visitors may encounter black bears, coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, mule deer, and a range of birds including quail, eagles, and hawks. Raptors nest along cliffs and in large cottonwoods. There are no marked trails, and the area lies within the Bureau of Land Management’s Jawbone–Butterbredt Area of Critical Environmental Concern, emphasizing the need for careful, respectful exploration.

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 Bright Star 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 Bright Star Wilderness
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 103-433

Date: October 31, 1994
Acreage: 9,520 acres

California Desert Protection Act of 1994 - Public Law 103-433 (10/31/1994) "California Desert Protection Act of 1994" An Act to designate certain lands in the California Desert as wilderness, to establish the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, to establish the Mojave National Preserve, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 103-433 or special provisions for 103-433 or legislative history for 103-433.

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.