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.

Angered by his relentless raids, local ranchers hunted down and killed the Apache Kid on these grounds. To mark the site of the Kid's undoing, the vengeful posse blazed a tree, the hacked remains of which you can see to this day.

Narrow, steep canyons bisect the peaks of the southern San Mateo Mountains, where elevations exceed 10,000 feet. The vegetation is typical of the region, with pinion-juniper woodland at lower elevations, spruce and fir and aspen at the higher elevations, and ponderosa pine in between.

Human visitors are few, but wildlife can be seen making their way across this rugged terrain range from Coue's white-tailed deer and mule deer to elk, black bears, bobcats, cougars, antelope, javelina, coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, and quail.

Hiking is easy if you manage to stay on the 68-mile trail system (the pathways are not always maintained). The main trail, which leads to the Kid's gravesite, follows about 13 miles of mountain crest, which translates into ample photo opportunities.

Water is limited to less than a dozen semi-dependable springs, most of which dry up in summer. July and August rains keep small streams periodically filled.

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 Apache Kid 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 Apache Kid Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

New Mexico 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 96-550

Date: December 19, 1980
Acreage: 45,000 acres

New Mexico Wilderness Act - Public law 96-550 (12/19/1980) To designate certain National Forest System lands in the state of New Mexico for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 96-550 or special provisions for 96-550 or legislative history for 96-550.

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.