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.

From rolling bajadas speckled with cholla, yucca, and Joshua trees, to intricately carved canyons forested with pinyon pine and juniper and jagged mountain peaks topped with stands of old-growth ponderosa pine.

Each landscape contains inspiring beauty and jaw-dropping surprises. The various climates and elevations in these areas provide important habitat for a wide spectrum of wildlife.

Elevations range from 2,200 to 7,414 feet.

The low elevations provide habitat for the desert tortoise, the banded Gila monster, the white bearpoppy, Clark mountain agave, desert banded gecko, the sidewinder and the long-nosed leopard lizard. Higher in the mountains, it’s possible to spot desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, bobcat and mountain lion. An impressive variety of raptors live in the area. Burrowing owl, golden eagle, ferruginous hawk, red-tailed hawk, prairie falcon, Cooper’s hawk, northern harrier, merlin and American kestrel are some of the birds of prey that have been spotted in the region.

The Mormon Mountains give a glimpse into the distant past, fossils in the limestone hills are snapshots of life hundreds of millions of years ago, when these high inland mountains were merely sediments accumulating at the bottom of the sea. The mountains give a bird's-eye view of nature's erosional forces at work.

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 Mormon Mountains 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

The Mormon Mountain Wilderness is located in southern Lincoln County with a portion in northeastern Clark County, approximately 60 miles from Las Vegas.

Access to the southeastern side of the Wilderness is from Glendale, Nevada north 8 miles on Intertstate 15 (exit 100) to the Carp road northbound.

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 Mormon Mountains Wilderness
Google Earth

Nevada 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 108-424

Date: November 30, 2004
Acreage: 157,938 acres

Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 - Public law 108-424 (11/30/2004) To establish wilderness areas, promote conservation, improve public land, and provide for the high quality development in Lincoln County, Nevada, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 108-424 or special provisions for 108-424 or legislative history for 108-424.

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.