Wilderness
The White Mountain National Forest contains approximately 148,000 acres of Congressionally-designated Wilderness. All Wilderness on the WMNF is managed according to the Forest 's Wilderness Plan.
The Importance of Wilderness Areas
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, much of it in Alaska. 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
Protecting Wilderness Areas
The following rules are put in place for Wilderness Areas in order to help protect and limit the human impact of management and use.
Rules for Use:
- 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.
In addition to these rules, each Wilderness Area may have special regulations to help protect those unique areas.
See our Dispersed Camping page for more information on how you can help protect Wilderness Areas.
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).
Six Congressionally-designated Areas
There are six Congressionally-designated Wilderness Areas on the White Mountain National Forest:
Size: 35,800 acres
Trails: Approximately 57 miles of maintained hiking trails.
Description: This area is composed of 3 major ridges radiating outward from the center. It contains several dominant peaks, including the Tripyramids, Mt Whiteface and Mt. Passaconaway as well as several mountain ponds. The area has long been popular with trampers and tourists looking for a variety of hikes.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed above):
- No Camping, wood or charcoal fires within 200' of Black Mountain Pond.
Size: 45,000 acres
Trails: Approximately 60 miles of maintained hiking trails.
Description: This is the largest Wilderness on the White Mountain National Forest. Between 1880 and 1940, what is now the Pemigewasset Wilderness contained the largest logging railroad system in the White Mountains, including 72 miles of train lines. Over 1 billion board feet of timber was removed from the 66,000 acre watershed. In 1907, a 10-day wildfire fed on leftover logging slash. Designated by the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act, the Pemigewasset Wilderness has re-grown to include beautiful terrain for backpacking, hiking, and experiencing nature.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed above):
- No camping, wood or charcoal fires within 200 feet of any trail.
- No camping, wood or charcoal fires within 200 feet of the East Branch of the Pemi River from the Wilderness boundary to its crossing with Thoreau Falls Trail, including islands.
- No camping, wood or charcoal fires within 1/4 mile of the Franconia Brook Campsite, 13 Falls Tentsite, Guyot Tentsite, or Thoreau Falls.
Size: 29,000 acres
Trails: Approximately 43 miles of maintained hiking trails
Description: This wilderness area features mountain peaks, large expanses above treeline, geologic formations and unique biological communities. The vegetation is a mix of fragile alpine and sub alpine plant communities and mixed hardwood and softwood forests.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed above):
- No camping, wood or charcoal fires within 200 feet of any trail, except at designated sites.
Size: 5,552 acres
Trails: Approximately 22 miles of maintained trails, including 2.7 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
Description: Added to the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964 as a part of the original Wilderness Act, the Great Gulf Wilderness is the smallest of the WMNF Wildernesses . The Great Gulf lies in a glacial cirque surrounded by the northern Presidential mountains.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed on main page):
- No wood or charcoal fires at any location.
- No camping from the intersection of the Great Gulf and Sphinx trails in the direction of Spaulding Lake.
- No camping within 200 feet of any trail except at designated site.
Size: 23,700 acres.
Trails: 29.4 miles.
Description: This area, like the Pemigewasset Wilderness, contains many remnants of logging railroads that once ran along the valley floor. Today it's hard to imagine that logging camps and trains were once an integral part of the landscape. The area encompasses beautiful hardwood forests with relatively easy terrain in its lower elevation, and thick spruce-fir forests with steep slopes higher up.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed above): None.
Size: 14,000 acres (geobook map)
Trails: 25 miles of maintained hiking trails
Description: Repeatedly logged up until the 1960s where harvesting took place in the Cold, Willard, Great, Miles, Mud, Morrison, and Little Lady drainages. There was an active fire tower on the summit of Speckled Mountain until the mid 1960s; it was removed in 1986 before the area was designated Wilderness. The area was designated by the 1975 Eastern Wilderness Act and expanded in the 1984 New Hampshire Wilderness Act.
Mt. Caribou got its name after two brothers shot the last caribou in the region there in 1854. Their names are carved on the top of the mountain.
This Wilderness area is entirely within the state of Maine. Topography varies from lower hardwood slopes to exposed rocky peaks. The highest point is Speckled Mountain, at 2,906 feet, with Mt. Caribou coming in second at 2,840 feet.
Special Regulations (in addition to those listed above): None.