White Mountain National Forest- Recreational Activities

Wilderness

Great Gulf Wilderness. (WMNF Photo by Nate Peters)

Caribou-Speckled Wilderness. (WMNF photo by Nate Peters)

Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness entry sign, taken from the Dry River Trail near Lakes of the Clouds, looking over Oakes Gulf and into the Dry River Valley. (WMNF photo by Dave Neely)

National Wilderness Web Site

Leave No Trace Web Site

WMNF Wilderness:

Great Gulf: approx. 5,552 acres, designated by the 1964 Wilderness Act

Presidential Range-Dry River: 29,000 acres designated by the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Act and expanded in the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act

Pemigewasset: 45,000 acres designated by the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act

Sandwich Range: 25,000 acres designated by the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act
Sandwich Range Extension: 10,800 acres designated by the 2006 New England Wilderness Act

Caribou-Speckled Mountain: 14, 000 acres designated by the 1990 Maine Wilderness Act

Wild River: 23,700 acres designated by the 2006 New England Wilderness Act

WMNF Wilderness Management Plan (Appendix E of 2005 Forest Plan)

Designated Wilderness is set aside by Congress to be part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. There are over 107 million acres of Wilderness across the United States. You can hike, ski, fish, hunt, and enjoy many other activities within Wilderness. The Wilderness Act defines wilderness in this way:

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain .... retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable … has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; … is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. ~The Wilderness Act 1964

The White Mountain National Forest contains approximately 148,000 acres of Congressionally-designated Wilderness, including the Wild River Wilderness and an extension to the Sandwich Range Wilderness, both of which were designated in 2006. All Wilderness on the WMNF is managed according to the Forest 's Wilderness Management Plan.

Wilderness Regulations

Wilderness has special regulations intended to keep thse areas wild and to reduce human impact. The following apply in all WMNF designated Wilderness:

No mechanized equipment or mechanical transport (including bicycles, carts, and wagons. Wheelchairs are allowed.)
Hiking and camping group size must be limited to 10 people or less.
Geocaching is prohibited.

Additional regulations apply to specific Wildernesses. Follow the links at left for more detailed information.

Since no amount of regulation can prevent each of us from affecting the land, we encourage you to follow Leave No Trace ethics anytime you visit backcountry or Wilderness.

Permits

You do not need a permit to visit or backpack within WMNF Wilderness unless you are providing outfitter/guide services.

If you are providing Outfitter/Guide services (including school and camp groups), you must obtain an Outfitter/Guide permit from the White Mountain National Forest. For more information please contact us at (603) 466-2713 (ext 213).

Climbing

To protect Wilderness values, the following climbing restrictions apply (2005 White Mountain National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, p. 3-15):

S-1 Wilderness is open unless closed to rock, ice, and mixed climbing.
S-2 The use of power drills is prohibited.
S-3 Storing equipment, including fixed ropes, is prohibited.
S-4 Installation of fixed protection, including webbing, bolts, or pitons, is
prohibited on new climbing routes.