Visit Wilderness
Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.

Why Visit Wilderness?
Learn more about the diverse ways in which we benefit from wilderness and threats wilderness areas face today.
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Search for a wilderness as the destination for your next outdoor adventure.

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.
Centered on Coyote Mountain, a mountain detached from but adjacent to the Baboquivari Range, this steep and rugged Wilderness is covered in dense desert shrubs.
Common vegetation includes paloverde, saguaro, acacia, mesquite, creosote, cholla, prickly pear, and other chaparral and oak woodland species.
Wildlife includes mountain lion, javelina and bobcat.
Granite outcrops are numerous, and many large granite domes and sheer cliff faces occur in the central part of the Wilderness.
Recreation opportunities include day hikes, trad climbing, sightseeing, and photography, but requires effort considering the steep terrain and dense vegetation which can be difficult to walk through.
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 Coyote Mountains Wilderness.
For more information on Leave No Trace, Visit the Leave No Trace, Inc. website.
40 miles southeast of Tucson, Arizona in Pima County.
Directions
From Tucson, take Highway 86 west toward the Kitt Peak Observatory then south on Highway 286 for approximately 8 miles. The Coyote Mountains lie four miles east of Kitt Peak. Currently there is no legal access to the Coyote Mountains Wilderness. Permission to park and access to the wilderness boundary must be obtained from the private landholder or the Tohono O'odham Nation.
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.
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.
Date: November 28, 1990
Acreage: 5,080 acres
Arizona Desert Wilderness Act of 1990 - Public law 101-628 (11/28/1990) To provide for the designation of certain public lands as wilderness in the State of Arizona
For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 101-628 or special provisions for 101-628 or legislative history for 101-628 for this law.
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.