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.

Sangre de Cristo is Spanish for "Blood of Christ," but no one is quite sure why the region was given this name.
Was it because of the bloody hues washing the slopes at sunset, or the cry of the dying priest, "sangre de Cristo," as his martyred blood flowed onto the ground near here?
Of the long and colorful Spanish influence in these mountains and in the San Luis Valley below there is no doubt.

Two four-wheel-drive roads over Medano Pass and Hayden Pass, as well as access to Lily Lake, were slim exclusions from Wilderness designation and split the area into four distinct sections.

Unlike most of Colorado's mountains, the high and magnificently rugged Sangres were uplifted suddenly in massive blocks, creating a range of dramatic vertical proportions.

Four fourteeners are clumped together in the midsection of the Wilderness, including Crestone Needle (14,197 feet). Many climbers, consider the Needle to be Colorado's most challenging 14,000-foot peak. Three more fourteeners stand together just south of the boundary.

Melting snow feeds many creeks and small lakes, and nourishes a forest of oak, aspen, and spruce. Black bears and a few mountain lions live here, along with elk, deer, and bighorn sheep.

Long (about 70 miles) and narrow describes the area, the state's third largest, and the going is rough for the hiker. Most of the 180 miles of trails end at alpine lakes set against virtually unclimbable walls.

Great Sand Dunes National Preserve is now part of the Sangre de Cristo 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 Sangre de Cristo 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

A portion of the wilderness area is located within Great Sand Dunes National Preserve which is located adjacent to Great Sand Dunes National Park. The Medano Pass 4-wheel drive primitive road passes through a corridor within the wilderness area and can be accessed from the west side through Great Sand Dunes National Park or from the east side off Colorado Highway 69 about 25 miles south of the town of Westcliffe. Two other roads, one leading to the top of Mosca Pass and the other leading to the east side of Music Pass provide access to hiking trails leading into the wilderness area and preserve.

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 Sangre de Cristo 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 103-77

Date: August 13, 1993
Acreage: 226,455 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.

Public Law 106-530

Date: November 22, 2000
Acreage: 0 acres

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Act of 2000 - Public law 106-530 (11/22/2000) To provide for the establishment of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve and the Baca National Wildlife Refuge in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 106-530 or special provisions for 106-530 or legislative history for 106-530.

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.