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.

About 135 million years ago a tremendous geologic uplift created the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Wheeler Peak Wilderness now marks the top of this rugged range, with Wheeler Peak, at 13,161 feet, standing higher than any other point in New Mexico.

Alpine tundra, rare in the American Southwest, covers Wheeler and other nearby Wilderness mountains.

As for wildlife, the most activity takes place in the short four-month "summer," when elk and mule deer visit, golden eagles soar in the clear skies, songbirds are ubiquitous, and marmots and pikas have their run of the place. Mountain lions and black bears have been seen here, too. Big horn sheep use the wind-swept high elevation tundra year-round.

Taos Ski Valley abuts the northern boundary, and a trailhead there (specifically at Twining Campground, which has a parking lot) accesses a trail system leading to myriad peaks and lakes and long talus slopes. The Wheeler Peak Trail starts near here and travels a well-defined path that leads to the summit of the state, a distance of approximately eight miles. You'll need no technical gear to attempt this hike. From the summit you can choose to continue on a trail to Horseshoe Lake; or follow the ridge to Simpson Peak and Taos Cone and on into Sawmill Park, where you can exit the Wilderness on the East Fork of the Red River.

About half the annual precipitation of 40 inches falls in summer and half in winter (when it appears in the form of fluffy white flakes).

Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are popular, but beware the danger of avalanche.

This is an attractive, easily accessible, and heavily used area.

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 Wheeler Peak 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 Wheeler Peak Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
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 88-577

Date: September 3, 1964
Acreage: 6,051 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 96-550

Date: December 19, 1980
Acreage: 14,700 acres

New Mexico Wilderness Act - Public law 96-550 (12/19/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the state of New Mexico for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-550 or special provisions for 96-550 or legislative history for 96-550.

Public Law 113-291

Date: December 19, 2014
Acreage: 650 acres

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 - Public law 113-291 (12/19/2014) To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2015 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 113-291 or special provisions for 113-291 or legislative history for 113-291.

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.