Hiking in Wilderness Study Areas

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

A backcountry traveler often has their own criteria for what may be considered a desired area for backpacking. This criteria often includes scenic beauty, memorable vistas, and a place where a person is immersed in the backcountry. For some backcountry travelers there are some additional criteria sought, however: Remoteness, unknown areas, lightly traveled, and wildness. In many of our designated Wilderness lands the last set of criteria is sometimes hard to find. Well known areas such as the Indians Peaks Wilderness in Colorado or the Desolation Wilderness in California have busy trailheads, full campsites and feel more like a well-used national park at times than a remote wilderness area. For those who seek wildness with their wilderness experience, there is another option. Something best found by looking at maps, Google satellite views, and backcountry road atlases...
 

@PaulMags discusses the hiking and backpacking oppurtunities that can be found in our Wilderness Study Areas, read the full article in Issue 29:

Wilderness Study Areas

Issue 29 Page 1

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Or National Forests and BLM land. There are few articles in magazines about most of the good places out there.

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Besides the Wilderness Act of 1964, my favorite definition is more than 5 miles from the nearest dirt road.