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.

Wild-flowing creeks in northwestern Alabama converge to become the Sipsey Fork of the Black Warrior River, 61 miles of which has been designated Wild and Scenic. Running below sandstone bluffs that rise 30 to 100 feet above the water, through a forest of often imposing second-growth trees and occasional small stands of virgin timber (some of the last virgin timber in the state), the Sipsey Fork and its tributaries slice neatly through the Wilderness.

Sinkholes, small caves, and scenic overlooks are plentiful. Less plentiful is the rare flattened musk turtle.

Twelve established trails, all rated easy to moderate, crisscross the Wilderness. Several depart from the Sipsey River Recreation Area on the southern boundary, which has sanitary facilities, no developed campsites and a $3.00 recreation use fee. From here, Trail 209 follows the river north and joins Trail 206 after about eight miles, ending after about 2.5 more miles at a parking lot on the northern boundary. Trail 200 runs north along Borden Creek to meet an old road that gives access to the heart of Sipsey Wilderness; it, too, ends at a parking lot on the northern boundary. A 13-mile loop is possible by taking Trail 204 from the old road and following Trail 209 for the return to the recreation site.

Sipsey trails receive moderate to heavy human use year-round.

Wilderness camping, building campfires, hunting, and fishing are permitted.

Horsepackers are allowed on designated trails.

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 Sipsey 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 Sipsey Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Alabama 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 93-622

Date: January 3, 1975
Acreage: 12,000 acres

(Known as the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act) - Public law 93-622 (1/3/1975) To further the purposes of the Wilderness Act by designating certain acquired lands for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, to provide for study of certain additional lands for such inclusion, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 93-622 or special provisions for 93-622 or legislative history for 93-622.

Public Law 100-547

Date: October 28, 1988
Acreage: 13,260 acres

Sipsey Wild and Scenic River and Alabama Addition Act of 1988 - Public law 100-547 (10/28/1988) To designate the Sipsey River as a component of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and to designate certain areas as additions to the Sipsey Wilderness, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 100-547 or special provisions for 100-547 or legislative history for 100-547.

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.