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.

Dark gray, massive mountains extending southeast from Indian Pass make up the central and western portions of the diminutive Picacho Peak Wilderness. Mica Peak stands near the center of this range, the highest point in the Wilderness at 1,499 feet.

South of these mountains, benchland rolls away, dissected by narrow arroyos with vertical walls.

The northeastern section of the area makes up a third distinctive region: open basins and large washes overlooked by small peaks. In Gavilan Wash on the north and Carrizo Wash on the east, you'll find the lowest points in the region. Carrizo Wash holds a natural rock tank at the foot of Carrizo Falls that traps the runoff from desert cloudbursts. From above the tank, rainwater cascades 40 feet down a series of rock ledges into a pool lined with cattails, a desert oasis for a variety of wildlife including bighorn sheep.

You may see some wild horses and burros roaming Picacho Peak Wilderness, or a desert tortoise burrowing into the soft volanic soil.

You also may discover a couple of unmaintained, two-track trails to follow.

Picacho Peak itself lies southeast of the Wilderness boundary.

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 Picacho Peak 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 Picacho Peak Wilderness
Google Earth

California 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 103-433

Date: October 31, 1994
Acreage: 7,700 acres

California Desert Protection Act of 1994 - Public Law 103-433 (10/31/1994) "California Desert Protection Act of 1994" An Act to designate certain lands in the California Desert as wilderness, to establish the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, to establish the Mojave National Preserve, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 103-433 or special provisions for 103-433 or legislative history for 103-433.

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.