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 Wellsville Mountain Wilderness extends along the high, steep north-south ridge and both sides of the Wellsville Mountains for about 14 miles. It is located in Northern Utah southwest of Logan, Utah and encompasses extremely rugged and picturesque terrain.

The mountains are one of the narrowest and steepest ranges in the Rockies, averaging only about five miles wide at its base and rising to its tallest summits, the Wellsville Cone at 9,356 feet and Box Elder Peak at 9,372 feet.

Canyons cut into the mountains from the east and west.

The water that runs out of the Wellsvilles is enough to supply many small Utah communities.

Once devastated by overgrazing, the Wilderness is on the road to recovery and now supports populations of deer, moose, and mountain lions, not to mention the occasional bighorn sheep. Raptors use this mountain range as a major flyway and the Hawkwatch International organization comes to the range frequently to record observations.

Day hikers and hunters are the primary human users.

There are only a few system trails in this Wilderness area and access and trailheads are limited. There are 3 system trails totaling approximately 17 miles of system trails exist in the Wellsville Mountain 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 Wellsville Mountain 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 Wellsville Mountain Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Utah 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 98-428

Date: September 28, 1984
Acreage: 23,850 acres

Utah Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-428 (9/28/1984) To designate certain national forest system lands in the state of Utah for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System to release other forest lands for multiple use management, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-428 or special provisions for 98-428 or legislative history for 98-428.

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.