America's Great Wilderness Spots

The U.S. has millions of acres of protected public lands. These are among the most beautiful — and isolated.

By Scott Bowen

Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

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True escape from city life doesn't have to mean a trip outside the U.S. Inside America's borders are some of the most remote, pristine spots on the planet.

The U.S. has more than 100 million acres of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS), public lands that — since the 1964 passage of the Wilderness Act--are protected from human influence and disruption. For the outdoorsy traveler looking for remoteness, solitude and a sense of nature, Wilderness areas offer all these things in abundance.

To highlight some of America's best wilderness areas, we generated a list based on two criteria: The wilderness areas had to be either the most sizable, acreage-wise, in their given region, or they had to offer something truly unique unto themselves.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

Montana

A combination of a few wildernesses, the Bob Marshall Complex is about 800 square miles larger than Rhode Island. You can hike its 60-mile length over 1,000 miles of trails skirting the Continental Divide. If you're ever going to see a grizzly bear in his unfenced backyard, it's here, in one of the country's most intact mountain systems with its original ecological continuity, from peak to valley.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Minnesota

If you have the sudden need to escape to cross into Canada via kayak or canoe, try here. Extending almost 200 miles along the Minnesota-Canadian border, this area contains 1,200 miles of canoe routes over 1,175 lakes and hundreds of miles of streams — and, along the way, over 2,000 campsites. A healthy gray wolf population howls at night.

John Muir Wilderness

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John Muir Wilderness

California

The 650,734 acres of the John Muir Wilderness, in the Inyo National Forest, is connected to the additional 1.38 million acres composed of the Ansel Adams, Dinkey Lakes, Golden Trout, Monarch, and Sequoia-Kings Canyon Wilderness areas, all of which wrap around Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park. There are 590 miles of trails in the John Muir itself, passing along canyons, river valleys, and numerous snow-capped peaks over 10,000 feet.

Pemigewasset Wilderness

Courtesy White Mountain National Forest/Forrest Seavey

Pemigewasset Wilderness

New Hampshire

This area was once heavily logged. A half-century of preservation has reversed that, and now this wilderness is one of the largest roadless areas east of the Mississippi. The main path, the Wilderness Trail, sees a good number of hikers in the high season, but nine other trails lead away from this path and into the wilderness itself. The 45,000 acres here contain numerous opportunities for wildlife watching, mountain trekking and camping.

Cranberry Wilderness

AP Photo/Jon Hancock

Cranberry Wilderness

West Virginia

Just as in many of the western wilderness areas, if you're willing to do a bit of marching up-slope, you can earn your way to nearly perfect natural solitude. There's a decent chance of glimpsing a black bear here, too, as the wilderness is a designated bear sanctuary. The 50 miles of maintained trails here provide decent access, and going off-trail is allowed.