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 197,000 acres of Shenandoah National Park stretch for 80 miles along the Blue Ridge Mountains, which form the eastern boundary of the Appalachian Range. The valley to the west holds the Shenandoah River and lends its name to the park.

Settlement began here in the early 1700s, and early settlers discovered rich soil in the region and outstanding vistas from the Blue Ridge.

The Shenandoah Wilderness demonstrates the recuperative powers of natural processes in eastern deciduous Appalachian forest. All of the Wilderness was once cleared and inhabited, farmed, logged and burned.

The Park was established in 1936 and natural regeneration to the wilderness conditions which followed encouraged National Park Service officials to recommend and eventually designate 42% of the Park as wilderness.

The Park interprets these unique values to the public and protects remaining cultural resources. Deer, bears, and bobcats are protected in their Wilderness habitat. Chipmunks, groundhogs, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, and opossums are frequently seen. Approximately 200 species of birds have been identified in Shenandoah, with ruffed grouse, ravens, juncos, barred owls, and wild turkeys counted among the permanent residents. Timber rattlesnakes and copperheads are occasionally sighted, but they rarely pose a threat to humans.

More than 500 miles of trails provide access to the Park, including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail (AT). Approximately 175 miles of trails traverse Wilderness.

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 Shenandoah 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 Shenandoah Wilderness
Google Earth

Virginia 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 94-567

Date: October 20, 1976
Acreage: 79,019 acres

(No official title, designates National Park Service wildernesses) - Public Law 94-567 (10/20/1976) To designate certain lands within units of the National Park System as wilderness; to revise the boundaries of certain of these units; and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 94-567 or special provisions for 94-567 or legislative history for 94-567.

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.