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.

Juniper Mesa is located in the southern Juniper Mountains on the northwest half of the Prescott National Forest. It is about 1 hour north of the city of Prescott.

The views from the mesa top to the south are hard to beat. One can see all of Apache Creek Wilderness, and portions of Granite Mountain, Woodchute, and Sycamore Canyon Wilderness areas.

This Wilderness is characterized by its abrupt south facing limestone cliff bands making up Juniper Mesa on the southern end of the Juniper Mountains. This flat-topped mesa stands out in the surrounding landscape of granite. The cliff forming members of this face are the Tapeats sandstone and the Martin and Redwall limestones. This geologic feature is a remnant of the past extent of the Colorado Plateau. The mesa is broken by steep canyons that open onto rolling hills with elevations ranging from 7,050 feet down to 5,650 feet.

Southern slopes are vegetated primarily with pinion pines and Utah junipers, northern slopes with ponderosa pines and alligator junipers.

Although there are no perennial streams and springs are unreliable, (especially during long periods of dry weather) wildlife is relatively abundant, including black bears, elk, mule deer, bobcats, and Abert's squirrels.

There are numerous trailheads with 15 miles of trails into the area, but human use is light. Equestrians and hunters are the most frequent visitors.

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 Juniper Mesa 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 Juniper Mesa Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Arizona 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 98-406

Date: August 28, 1984
Acreage: 7,600 acres

Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public Law 98-406 (8/28/1984) Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-406 or special provisions for 98-406 or legislative history for 98-406.

Public Law 103-365

Date: January 25, 1994
Acreage: 0 acres

Arizona Wilderness Land Title Resolution Act of 1994 - Public law 103-365 (1/25/1994) To resolve the status of certain lands in Arizona that are subject to a claim as a grant of public lands for railroad purposes, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 103-365

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.