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.

Contiguous to the Deep Creek unit, Deep Creek North Wilderness is located near the northeast corner of Zion National Park.

The elevation ranges from a low of 5,900 feet to a high of 8,800 feet, creating an environment for dense stands of trees and shrubs.

Deep Creek North Wilderness contains numerous drainages: Crystal Creek, Big Oak Wash, Deep Creek, and several unnamed drainages. The area just outside the Deep Creek North Wilderness is dotted with springs.

This extensive cover, availability of water, and a contiguous landscape of wildlands, creates habitat for a wide variety of animals. Mule deer, elk, mountain lion, and bobcat are the larger animals that make a home here. Just a few of the smaller mammals include badgers, marmots, and ringtail.

Numerous bird species can be observed in the Wilderness including golden eagle, screech owl, chukar partridge, and wild turkey. The remote canyons of the Wilderness provide suitable nesting habitat for the Mexican spotted owl, a threatened species.

Common plant species in the area include Ponderosa pine, two-needle pinyon pine, single-leaf pinyon pine, Gambel oak, scrub or Dixie live oak, banana yucca, Mojave hedgehog cactus, Utah yucca, Greenleaf manzanita, firecracker penstemon, giant red Indian paintbrush, Fremont cottonwood, single-leaf ash, Engelmann’s spruce.

Deep Creek North Wilderness receives between 16 and 18 inches of precipitation each year. Summer temperatures often exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit with temperatures in excess of 90 at higher elevations and day and night temperatures differing by over 30 degrees. Winters are cold and often wet with temperatures ranging from highs of 50 to 60 degrees during the day to lows well below freezing at night.

There are no maintained trails in the Wilderness.

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 Deep Creek North 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 Deep Creek North Wilderness
Google Earth

Utah 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 111-11

Date: March 30, 2009
Acreage: 4,262 acres

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Public law 111-11 (3/30/2009) An act to designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 111-11 or special provisions for 111-11 or legislative history for 111-11.

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.