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.

This rough land features high, jagged peaks; deep, narrow valleys and canyons; sheer granite walls; cirque basins; talus slopes; and perennial snowfields.

This area abuts the Continental Divide and encompasses 25 square miles of the southern Wind River Mountain Range. Along the western boundary, which the Popo Agie (pronounced "po-po-zsha") Wilderness shares with the Bridger Wilderness, stands Wind River Peak, at 13,255 feet the highest point in the area.

More than 20 other summits rise above 12,000 feet. The lowest elevation in the Popo Agie is the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River at 8,400 feet on the eastern boundary.

Bordering the north side is the Wind River Indian Reservation, outstanding country where visitors must first obtain a permit before entering.

More than 300 alpine and subalpine lakes and ponds send their waters down sparkling streams and over waterfalls to the Middle Fork and North Fork of the Popo Agie River and the South Fork of the Little Wind River. All the water eventually ends up in the Wind River.

Forests of lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, and subalpine fir grow here.

In a Smithsonian Institute report issued in 1879, it was said of the Wind River Mountains, "when a good Indian dies, he falls into a beautiful stream of bright, fresh water, and is carried to the pleasant grounds [of the Winds]. . . . "

The temperature rarely exceeds 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but it may plunge to 40 below zero in the winter. Snow may fall any day of the year. During summer, there are occasional heavy rains and afternoon thunderstorms are common.

Many miles of trails attract a relatively large number of visitors, which has led to resource-protecting restrictions on camping and travel. Check with the Washakie or Wind River Ranger Districts (located in Lander and Dubois, respectively).

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 Popo Agie 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 Popo Agie Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Wyoming 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 98-550

Date: October 30, 1984
Acreage: 101,991 acres

Wyoming Wilderness Act of 1984 - Public law 98-550 (10/30/1984) To designate certain lands in the state of Wyoming for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System, to release other forest lands for multiple use management, to withdraw designated wilderness areas in Wyoming from minerals activity, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 98-550 or special provisions for 98-550 or legislative history for 98-550.

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.