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 Lee Metcalf Wilderness consists of four separate units distributed across the Madison Range in southwest Montana. The Bear Trap Canyon unit is administered by the Bureau of Land Management and is the smallest of the four units. The Spanish Peaks, Taylor Hilgard, and Monument Mountain units are administered by the Forest Service and are located in the Gallatin and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forests.

The Lee Metcalf includes a variety of physical and biological communities ranging from the low-elevation Bear Trap Canyon on the Madison River (about 4,500 feet) to alpine ridges and peaks above 11,000 feet.

There are no active glaciers in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness, although the high cirque basins and U-shaped drainages provide evidence of Pleistocene glaciation.

The Wilderness receives variable precipitation, from an average of 11 inches in the Bear Trap to over 60 inches in the Madison Range.

At their most extreme, winter temperatures can drop as low as -30 degrees F and climb as high as 100 degrees in the summer, but seldom do. Temperatures are more moderate in the spring and fall.

Treeline is generally around 9,000 to 10,000 feet. Between treeline and the high rocky peaks, alpine and sub-alpine vegetation is dominant.

Wildlife is abundant throughout the Wilderness and includes mountain goats, bighorn sheep, black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, cougars, and wolves. Cutthroat, rainbow, and brook trout can be found in the lakes and streams.

In total, there are 300 miles of trail and 28 trailheads that provide access to the Lee Metcalf 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 Lee Metcalf 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

Hiking access to Bear Trap Canyon is from the north end of the canyon only. To reach the trailhead, follow State Highway 84 west from Bozeman. Just before the highway crosses the Madison River, and directly across from the Red Mountain Campground, a gravel road intersects the highway on the left and leads upstream on the east side of the river to the trailhead.

Floating access is from the south end of the canyon, near the Madison Powerhouse. The boat launch provides access to a Class IV segment of whitewater river through the canyon --experienced boaters only. Floaters can reach the canyon from U.S. Highway 287, 7 miles north of Ennis, at McAllister. Turn east on a gravel road towards Ennis Lake, follow for approximately 7 miles -- past the lake, across a bridge, into the canyon, past the dam, to the powerhouse. Floaters should unload at the launch site, but park upstream in the Fall Creek parking area (interpretive site). Do not park at the powerhouse!

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 Lee Metcalf Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Montana 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 98-140

Date: October 31, 1983
Acreage: 259,000 acres

Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Management Act of 1983 - Public law 98-140 (10/31/1983) To establish the Lee Metcalf Wilderness and Management Area in the State of Montana, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-140 or special provisions for 98-140 or legislative history for 98-140.

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.