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.

An intermittent stream spills over Burden Falls, a picturesque series of waterfalls that drop a total of about 100 feet, with a greatest single descent of approximately 20 feet. Burden Creek flows northward toward the Little Saline River.

The Wilderness shares its southern boundary with Bay Creek Wilderness, and both exemplify the scenic characteristics of the Shawnee Hills: sandstone ledges overlooking bluffs and cliffs on which dry-land communities of red cedar, farkleberry, and blackjack oak grow. At the bottom of the bluffs, greater soil depth supports post oak and, farther from the cliffs, white oak grows in even deeper soil. Several unique species of plant life thrive in the area, including Carolina buckthorn, seldom seen this far north, rock chestnut, prickly pear, royal fern, glade fern, and the cardinal flower.

Among the inhabitants of the deciduous forest are white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, gray squirrels, and many other small mammals. The barred owl lives here alongside pileated woodpeckers and eastern bluebirds.

The Burden Falls Trail (3.5 miles) runs above the waterfall. Hunting and fishing are allowed. Permits are not required for trail use or camping. Bird watching and photography make this a worthwhile destination.

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 Burden Falls 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 Burden Falls Wilderness
FS Topographic Map
Google Earth

Illinois 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 101-633

Date: November 28, 1990
Acreage: 3,723 acres

Illinois Wilderness Act of 1990 - Public law 101-633 (11/28/1990) To designate certain lands in the State of Illinois as wilderness, and for other purposes

For more information (To download or see all affected wilderness areas) visit our law library for 101-633 or special provisions for 101-633 or legislative history for 101-633.

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.