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 Mount Zirkel Wilderness lies within the Routt National Forest in northwestern Colorado. It was one of the original areas protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act and has since been expanded twice to its present size of 160,648 acres.

The Wilderness straddles the Continental Divide in the Park Range and the Sierra Madre and offers a diversity of ecosystems from sagebrush meadows in the lower areas, through pine and spruce/fir forests and on up to alpine tundra. It contains the rugged peaks of the Sawtooth Range and the headwaters of the Elk, Encampment and North Platte rivers.

There are over 70 lakes within the Wilderness as well as 15 peaks over 12,000 feet, the highest being 12,180 foot Mount Zirkel, named in 1874 to honor Ferdinand Zirkel's contributions to the science of geology.

Glaciation has left its distinctive mark of high valleys ending in precipitous cirques.

Over 150 miles of trails provide access, and the Wilderness offers a variety of recreational opportunities.

Some areas, notably several of the lakes and areas along the Continental Divide, are very popular and receive a high level of use, but visitors looking for solitude can find it if they come during the week and/or visit less-popular areas.

Ample opportunity exists to view nature's dynamic cycle of disturbance and rebirth. The Routt Divide Blowdown in 1997 toppled millions of trees over a 150 square mile area, most of it within the Wilderness, with beetle epidemics and wildfires following in its wake. These natural forces have temporarily altered the landscape without permanently eroding its wilderness character.

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 Mount Zirkel 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 Mount Zirkel Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Colorado 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: 72,180 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 96-560

Date: December 22, 1980
Acreage: 68,500 acres

Colorado Wilderness Act - Public Law 96-560 (12/22/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the States of Colorado, South Dakota, Missouri, South Carolina, and Louisiana for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-560 or special provisions for 96-560 or legislative history for 96-560.

Public Law 103-77

Date: August 13, 1993
Acreage: 20,750 acres

Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 - Public Law 103-77 (8/13/1993) Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 103-77 or special provisions for 103-77 or legislative history for 103-77.

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.