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.

Reminders of the volcanic and glacial origin of the Caribou Wilderness can be seen throughout this forested plateau. The forest is composed predominantly of lodgepole pine sprinkled with a mixture of Jeffrey pine, white and red fir, western white pine, and hemlock. Crater peaks, cinder cones, and numerous depressions have filled with water to become splendid timber-fringed lakes. The larger lakes support brook and rainbow trout, and black-tailed deer and black bears grace the Wilderness alongside squirrels, chipmunks, and the protected pine marten. You may see bald eagles and ospreys overhead, and mergansers and grebes on the ponds and lakes. Some of the water, percolating up through the porous volcanic aquifer, forms the head of the Susan River, a major water source for the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains. On the western border, which is shared by Lassen Volcanic National Park, stands Red Cinder, the area's highest point at 8,375 feet. From this high place, and from the tops of Black Cinder Rock and North and South Caribou Peaks, you'll find terrific views of the towering mountains that surround the Wilderness. A well-maintained trail system offers access along relatively easy slopes, but off the trails, the land is often rough and broken. Lakes are usually frozen well into June. Summer on the trails brings dashes of wildflower color and thick clusters of water lilies on the ponds--not to mention clouds of devilish mosquitoes. From Silver Lake, just outside the eastern boundary, the Caribou Lake Trail enters the Wilderness for approximately one mile, to split south about six miles to the Hay Meadows Trailhead, and north about four miles to the Cone Lake Trailhead. At Triangle Lake on the north trail, a path travels west about one mile before entering the national park. Receiving moderate human use, this area offers a chance for wondrous solitude.

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 Caribou 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 Caribou 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 88-577

Date: September 3, 1964
Acreage: 19,080 acres

The Wilderness Act - Public law 88-577 (9/3/1964) To establish a National Wilderness Preservation System for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 88-577 or special provisions for 88-577 or legislative history for 88-577.

Public Law 98-425

Date: September 28, 1984
Acreage: 1,800 acres

California Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public Law 98-425 (9/28/1984) California Wilderness Act of 1984

For more information (To download or see all affected Wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-425 or special provisions for 98-425 or legislative history for 98-425.

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.